Using geometry to specify location: implications for spatial coding in children and nonhuman animals

Abstract

The study of spatial cognition has benefited greatly from a technique known as the disorientation procedure. This procedure was originally used with rats to show that they relied on the geometry of an enclosed space to locate a target hidden in that space. Disorientation has since been used with a variety of mobile animals, including human children, to examine the coding of geometric information. Here, we focus mostly on our recent work with young children. We examine a set of issues concerning reorientation--namely, the nature of geometric coding, the processes invoked by disorientation, and the developmental origins of using geometric information to determine location. We have employed a variety of methods to examine these issues; the methods include analyzing search behaviors, using spaces of different shapes, varying viewing position, and comparing different disorientation procedures. The implications for how children and nonhuman animals code geometric information are discussed.

Location representation in enclosed spaces: What types of information afford young children an advantage?

“…During recent years, however, there have been numerous demonstrations of even toddlers relying on geometric information about the shape of an enclosed space to locate a target object hidden at one of the corners of the space (e.g., Hermer & Spelke, 1994, 1996; for reviews, see Cheng & Newcombe, 2005;Lourenco & Huttenlocher, 2007). Despite the growing literature, questions concerned with how toddlers process location information such as geometry have been difficult to answer.…”

A Primate-Inspired Autonomous Navigation Algorithm Using the Cognitive Mechanism of Mental Rotation

“…Research has shown that although human children and nonhuman primates are robust navigators, they do not use maps or precise distances to navigate to a location [3,5]. It is suggested that they instead use mental transformations to overcome changes in perspective and to make general assessments about the direction in which they must move to reach a certain location.…”

“…The Bonobo being observed had to travel from a start location to a designated goal; it did not take a rigid trajectory but varied its path [4]. Starting position did not affect its ability to successfully navigate, implying it possesses the ability to mentally encode the "entire spatial layout" of the area, and can mentally manipulate this encoding to localize itself and travel appropriately [5].…”

“…The ability of nonhuman primates (and human children) to use mapping is limited, therefore, other mechanisms must have evolved in primates to allow for successful navigation [5]. Many studies have identified the mechanism of mental rotation, an ability that allows primates to "envision" a reorientation of an object/scene [6,7,8].…”

Perspectives on human spatial cognition: memory, navigation, and environmental learning

“…Their Wndings support the helpfulness of using a landmarkbased strategy, which has the advantage of being computationally simpler than using path integration-based survey knowledge. Lourenco and Huttenlocher (2006) contrast the use of landmarks and of the geometric properties of an environment within which people are moving, as cues on which they rely in spatial learning. By using a variety of disorientation procedures, they challenge the view that young children rely primarily on geometrical information to reorient themselves in enclosed spaces and suggest that they actually code information about their own positions relative to the spatial environment.…”