Abstract
Search is a central visual function. Most of what is known about search derives from experiments where subjects view 2D displays on computer monitors. In the natural world, however, search involves movement of the body in large-scale spatial contexts, and it is unclear how this might affect search strategies. In this experiment, we explore the nature of memory representations developed when searching in an immersive virtual environment. By manipulating target location, we demonstrate that search depends on episodic spatial memory as well as learnt spatial priors. Subjects rapidly learned the large-scale structure of the space, with shorter paths and less head rotation to find targets. These results suggest that spatial memory of the global structure allows a search strategy that involves efficient attention allocation based on the relevance of scene regions. Thus spatial memory may allow less energetically costly search strategies.
Highlights
In natural behavior, visual information is actively sampled from the environment by a sequence of gaze changes
Land et al.[8] noted instances when subjects made large gaze shifts to locations outside the field of view that involved eye, head, and body movements, and were remarkably accurate. Another aspect of 3D environments is that movement is self-initiated and accompanied by proprioceptive and vestibular feedback that allow the development of abstract spatial memory representations[9]
Previous work suggested that spatial memory may be organized hierarchically, where object location is represented relative to a sub-region of the environment, and the sub-region is represented relative to the larger scale environment[27,28]
Summary
Visual information is actively sampled from the environment by a sequence of gaze changes. Experimental paradigms typically entail brief exposures to a large number of different images, whereas in natural settings humans are immersed in a relatively small number of environments for longer durations This provides viewers with the opportunity to develop memory representations of particular environments, and to use such representations to guide search, rather than interrogating the visual image. Land et al.[8] noted instances when subjects made large gaze shifts to locations outside the field of view that involved eye, head, and body movements, and were remarkably accurate Another aspect of 3D environments is that movement is self-initiated and accompanied by proprioceptive and vestibular feedback that allow the development of abstract spatial memory representations[9]. Do subjects remember the exact coordinates of the target or a less precise location, such as the side of the room the target is on? If memory is at a coarse scale such as which room, or which side of the room, or which surface, it may be faster to use visual cues rather than an imprecise memory, especially when the targets are relatively easy to locate and the target is within the field of view
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