Abstract
The ability to estimate distance and time to spatial goals is fundamental for survival. In cases where a region of space must be navigated around to reach a location (circumnavigation), the distance along the path is greater than the straight-line Euclidean distance. To explore how such circumnavigation impacts on estimates of distance and time, we tested participants on their ability to estimate travel time and Euclidean distance to learned destinations in a virtual town. Estimates for approximately linear routes were compared with estimates for routes requiring circumnavigation. For all routes, travel times were significantly underestimated, and Euclidean distances overestimated. For routes requiring circumnavigation, travel time was further underestimated and the Euclidean distance further overestimated. Thus, circumnavigation appears to enhance existing biases in representations of travel time and distance.
Highlights
Knowing how far away a destination is or how quickly one can travel there can be important for survival and shapes our daily lives
Recent neuroimaging research has shown that medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions track the distance to the goal during navigation (Balaguer, Spiers, Hassabis, & Summerfield, 2016; Chrastil, Sherrill, Hasselmo, & Stern, 2015; Morgan, Macevoy, Aguirre, & Epstein, 2011; Sherrill et al, 2013; Spiers & Maguire, 2007; Viard, Doeller, Hartley, Bird, & Burgess, 2011), where activity in the entorhinal region correlated with Euclidean distance and activity in the posterior hippocampus correlated with the path distance (Howard et al, 2014)
There was no significant difference between travel times on L-shaped and U-shaped routes with equal path distance
Summary
Knowing how far away a destination is or how quickly one can travel there can be important for survival and shapes our daily lives. Navigating to a goal in the world and returning home requires knowledge of the environmental geometry and, frequently, the ability to circumnavigate obstacles while keeping track of the goal’s location (McNaughton, Battaglia, Jensen, Moser, & Moser, 2006; Mittelstaedt & Mittelstaedt, 1980). Such circumnavigation, introduces disparities between path distance and straight-. It remains unknown if the environmental geometry of a path (curvature) has a significant impact on estimates of the distance or the time estimated to travel to goals
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