Risk-taking during wayfinding is modulated by external stressors and personality traits

Brunyé, Tad T.; Martis, Shaina B.; Hawes, Breanne K.; Taylor, Holly A.

doi:10.1080/13875868.2019.1633540

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…However, we did not find any influence of our stress induction on the SOT, which involved complex spatial transformations of perspective and orientation. This finding was surprising given earlier work suggesting that acute stress, even when it does not involve HPA activation, can reduce performance on spatial orientation and navigation tasks (Richardson and VanderKaay Tomasulo, 2011;Brunyé et al, 2019b). Because our task involved realistic but time-consuming whole-body reorientations, it was not possible to meaningfully measure response latencies, which may have been more sensitive to our stress induction than measures of angular or distance error (Richardson and VanderKaay Tomasulo, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…The present study highlighted several methodological and practical considerations for the development and validation of the novel and comprehensive DeMUS virtual reality scenario, revealing important characteristics of the human stress response and motivating continuing research. As we continue to expand upon the DeMUS scenario, we intend to leverage it for evaluating how individual differences in baseline traits and abilities (e.g., resilience, emotion regulation skills, cognitive capacities) and enhancement techniques (e.g., neuromodulation, nutritional supplementation) modulate performance (Brunyé et al, 2019b;Farina et al, 2019;Feltman et al, 2019;Brunyé et al, 2020). Results from these studies will be critical for developing and validating new methods to predict and optimize performance in high-stakes military training and operations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Methods for eliciting and measuring behavioral and physiological consequences of stress and uncertainty in virtual reality

Brunyé

Giles²

2023

Front. Virtual Real.

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Military operations are characterized by high levels of stress and uncertainty, and these states can influence cognitive and physical performance outcomes. These states, however, can be difficult to reliably induce in laboratory contexts, making it challenging to quantify and model their influences on perceptual and cognitive processes underlying performance on applied tasks. Herein we describe the development and validation of a novel scenario-based virtual reality methodology, the decision making under uncertainty and stress (DeMUS) scenario, that accomplishes four primary goals. First, it induces physiological and biochemical stress responses through a threat of shock manipulation. Second, it induces transient states of uncertainty by manipulating stimulus clarity in a perceptual decision-making task. Third, it generates several performance metrics regarding recognition memory, spatial orienting, threat classification, and marksmanship decision making. Finally, the task combines behavioral, physiological, and biochemical measures to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how stress and uncertainty influence applied task performance. To provide an initial validation of the scenario and its associated tasks and measures, we conducted a pilot study (n = 18) involving stress induction and cognitive performance assessment. Analyses revealed that: 1) the DeMUS scenario elicited tonic and phasic biochemical (salivary alpha amylase and cortisol) and physiological (heart rate, pupil diameter) stress responses, 2) the scenario elicited variable sympathetic autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis responses, and 3) stress influenced some measures of memory and decision-making in both negative and positive directions. Continuing research will assess individual- and group-level predictors of performance on these virtual reality tasks, and emerging performance enhancement techniques that can help military personnel sustain performance during stressful operations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for eliciting and measuring behavioral and physiological consequences of stress and uncertainty in virtual reality

Brunyé

Giles²

2023

Front. Virtual Real.

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“…Interestingly, trait anxiety was also related to excess distance and strategy choice (choosing the learned-route over shortcuts), but was not related to configural knowledge (as measured by the pointing task) or navigation success. These results suggest that individuals with more spatial anxiety are able to construct cognitive maps, but differ in navigation strategies, possibly because they are less confident in their configural knowledge or more risk-averse, so that they are unwilling to take a shortcut when they are uncertain that it will lead to their goal location 27,43 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Stress affects navigation strategies in immersive virtual reality

Varshney,

Munns,

Kasowski

et al. 2024

Sci Rep

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There are known individual differences in both the ability to learn the layout of novel environments and the flexibility of strategies for navigating known environments. However, it is unclear how navigational abilities are impacted by high-stress scenarios. Here we used immersive virtual reality (VR) to develop a novel behavioral paradigm to examine navigation under dynamically changing situations. We recruited 48 participants (24 female; ages 17–32) to navigate a virtual maze (7.5 m × 7.5 m). Participants learned the maze by moving along a fixed path past the maze’s landmarks (paintings). Subsequently, participants experienced either a non-stress condition, or a high-stress condition tasking them with navigating the maze. In the high-stress condition, their initial path was blocked, the environment was darkened, threatening music was played, fog obstructed more distal views of the environment, and participants were given a time limit of 20 s with a countdown timer displayed at the top of their screen. On trials where the path was blocked, we found self-reported stress levels and distance traveled increased while trial completion rate decreased (as compared to non-stressed control trials). On unblocked stress trials, participants were less likely to take a shortcut and consequently navigated less efficiently compared to control trials. Participants with more trait spatial anxiety reported more stress and navigated less efficiently. Overall, our results suggest that navigational abilities change considerably under high-stress conditions.

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“…The student operates under time constraints (return to the dorm before dinner or reach a destination before nightfall). Time pressure during EL can influence the cues people attend to (Credé et al, 2019) and their reliance on familiar routes (Brown et al, 2020;Brunyé et al, 2017Brunyé et al, , 2019. Thus, time constraints during navigation can influence cues that are processed and navigation decisions.…”

Section: Ecologically Relevant Motivations and Constraints Drive Elmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the proposed role of metacognition in environment learning: recommendations for research

2022

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Metacognition plays a role in environment learning (EL). When navigating, we monitor environment information to judge our likelihood to remember our way, and we engage in control by using tools to prevent getting lost. Yet, the relationship between metacognition and EL is understudied. In this paper, we examine the possibility of leveraging metacognition to support EL. However, traditional metacognitive theories and methodologies were not developed with EL in mind. Here, we use traditional metacognitive theories and approaches as a foundation for a new examination of metacognition in EL. We highlight three critical considerations about EL. Namely: (1) EL is a complex process that unfolds sequentially and is thereby enriched with multiple different types of cues, (2) EL is inherently driven by a series of ecologically relevant motivations and constraints, and (3) monitoring and control interact to support EL. In doing so, we describe how task demands and learning motivations inherent to EL should shape how metacognition is explored. With these considerations, we provide three methodological recommendations for investigating metacognition during EL. Specifically, researchers should: (1) instantiate EL goals to impact learning, metacognition, and retrieval processes, (2) prompt learners to make frequent metacognitive judgments and consider metacognitive accuracy as a primary performance metric, and (3) incorporate insights from both transfer appropriate processing and monitoring hypotheses when designing EL assessments. In summary, to effectively investigate how metacognition impacts EL, both ecological and methodological considerations need to be weighed.

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Risk-taking during wayfinding is modulated by external stressors and personality traits

Cited by 6 publications

References 65 publications

Methods for eliciting and measuring behavioral and physiological consequences of stress and uncertainty in virtual reality

Methods for eliciting and measuring behavioral and physiological consequences of stress and uncertainty in virtual reality

Stress affects navigation strategies in immersive virtual reality

On the proposed role of metacognition in environment learning: recommendations for research

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