Abstract
The skill of spatial learning and orientation is fundamental in humans and differs widely among individuals. Despite its importance, however, the malleability of this skill through practice has scarcely been studied empirically, in contrast to psychometric spatial ability. Thus, this article examines the possibility of improving the accuracy of configurational understanding of the environment by training. A total of 40 adults with a poor sense of direction participated in the experiment; and were randomly assigned to either a condition in which they received feedback only or a condition in which they additionally practiced allocentric spatial updating. Participants walked one route in each session, once a week for 6 weeks, and conducted spatial tasks designed to assess their knowledge of the route. A total of 20 people with an average sense of direction also participated as a comparison group. Results showed that training in allocentric spatial updating improved the accuracy of direction estimates, although the size of the effect was limited: the improvement was not large enough to equate the performance in the groups with a poor versus average sense of direction. The two groups, however, did not differ in spatial skill in mental rotation or path integration. Feedback was effective for improving accuracy in straight-line distance estimates and sketch maps: repeated trials with feedback led to improved accuracy by the sixth session to a level comparable to the group with an average sense of direction. The results show that flexible translation between viewer-centered and environment-centered representations is difficult and not readily trainable, and provide insights into the nature of individual differences in large-scale environmental cognition.
Highlights
Cognitive mapping and spatial orientation For humans, who live in and are surrounded by space, it is fundamental to learn about the surrounding environment and stay oriented in it
We examine their performances in more detail in comparison to participants with an average sense of direction
Comparability of participants To ensure the equivalence of participants in the two experimental conditions, we compared their scores on the Santa Barbara Sense-of-Direction (SBSOD) scale and the Card Rotations Test in the first session
Summary
Cognitive mapping and spatial orientation For humans, who live in and are surrounded by space, it is fundamental to learn about the surrounding environment and stay oriented in it. You daily encounter situations in which you need to know where a destination is, which way to turn at an intersection, or how to make a detour when your usual route is blocked. When you have navigational assistance available such as a map, you still need to consult your knowledge, so that you align the map in the hand with a “map in the head.”. Having an accurate mental representation of the environment and being able to manipulate it flexibly are key to efficient spatial reasoning and behavior. Such a psychological process of acquiring, coding, storing, recalling, and decoding information about everyday spatial environments is called cognitive mapping (Downs & Stea, 1973). This article looks at the skill of cognitive mapping from the perspective of individual differences, and examines the possibility of improving it by training in people with difficulty in survey learning and spatial orientation in the environment
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