Development Of Cognitive Maps Research Articles

Altered grid-like coding in early blind people

Cognitive maps in the hippocampal-entorhinal system are central for the representation of both spatial and non-spatial relationships. Although this system, especially in humans, heavily relies on vision, the role of visual experience in shaping the development of cognitive maps remains largely unknown. Here, we test sighted and early blind individuals in both imagined navigation in fMRI and real-world navigation. During imagined navigation, the Human Navigation Network, constituted by frontal, medial temporal, and parietal cortices, is reliably activated in both groups, showing resilience to visual deprivation. However, neural geometry analyses highlight crucial differences between groups. A 60° rotational symmetry, characteristic of a hexagonal grid-like coding, emerges in the entorhinal cortex of sighted but not blind people, who instead show a 90° (4-fold) symmetry, indicative of a square grid. Moreover, higher parietal cortex activity during navigation in blind people correlates with the magnitude of 4-fold symmetry. In sum, early blindness can alter the geometry of entorhinal cognitive maps, possibly as a consequence of higher reliance on parietal egocentric coding during navigation.

Institutional investor behaviour and the energy transition: A complexity framework for accelerating sustainable finance from UK investors

Despite sustainable investment flows having increased significantly over the past decade for transforming the current energy system, a large investment gap remains. This research explores the complex links between institutional investors' expectations on the speed of the energy transition and their sustainability-related investment behaviours. Through in-depth semi-structured interviews with institutional investors, we construct a complex system model using a causal mapping approach, illustrating complex relationships within the sustainable investment system. Our contribution involves the development of multi-layer cognitive maps for different types of institutional investors, followed by a composite causal map that dissects key investment behaviours and investor expectations. Results reveal interlinked concepts influencing investment behaviour and highlight feedback loops with potential amplifying effects on investor expectations and investment behaviour. Two critical feedback loops emerge: 1) the interplay between political and financial support for the energy transition and the associated cost, and 2) the intricate relationship between sustainability factors and asset valuation. Addressing these interconnected issues simultaneously and monitor negative feedback loops that may curtail sustainable finance flows are vital. The results reveal heterogeneities amongst institutional investors such as fiduciary duties, stranded assets, the importance of fossil fuels in the energy system. In sum, our insights provide a foundation for holistic energy policies and a reference system for evaluating policies aimed at accelerating green finance.

Social and Ecological Impacts of Fire to Coastal Fisheries: A Study of the Kenai River Fishery (Alaska, USA)

AbstractIn a rapidly changing environment where fires are becoming more frequent and severe, scientists and managers need information and tools to enhance understanding of the numerous ways in which fire can affect fisheries. We used Ostrom's social–ecological systems framework to structure the development and refinement of fuzzy cognitive maps with stakeholders across the Kenai River fishery in Alaska, USA. The process yielded a model characterizing the structure and function of the Kenai River fishery. The model was then used to guide interviews with stakeholders focused on the effects of the 2019 Swan Lake Fire. We identified seven direct pathways through which fire can affect the social and ecological components of a coastal fishery. We also used the model to guide a targeted literature review to further explore how fire can affect the components of the Kenai River fishery. This synthesis of information allowed us to develop a more complete understanding of the impacts of fire on the fishery—an understanding informed by input from local stakeholders (via our interviews) and relevant scientific and management literature (via our literature review). Lastly, we used the model to assess the fishery's vulnerability to fire. We discuss how early run Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha constitute a highly vulnerable component of the system and have the greatest potential to impact the fishery as a whole through a chain of negative social and ecological interactions. This final step illustrates how the model can be used to assess the vulnerability of system components to specific threats. The model of the Kenai River fishery provides an empirically grounded and easily understood visual representation of the complex dynamics affecting coastal fisheries. As such, it can be used to structure discussions among managers and stakeholders, organize our understanding of how fire affects fisheries, and assess vulnerabilities to endogenous and exogenous stressors.

Longitudinal development of cognitive mapping from childhood to adolescence

Cross-sectional studies have suggested that the ability to form cognitive maps increases throughout childhood and reaches adult levels during early adolescence. However, adults show large individual differences in their ability to relate local routes to form a global map. Children also vary, but when does variation stabilize? We asked participants from a previously published cross-sectional study [Journal of Experimental Child Psychology (2018), Vol. 170, pp. 86–106] to return for a second session of testing 3 years later to examine whether longitudinal stability is more evident at older ages. The subsample of 50 of the original 105 participants available for retesting did not differ from the original sample on male–female ratio or Session 1 task performance. We reassessed performance on the Virtual Silcton navigation paradigm, the Spatial Orientation Test (SOT), and the Mental Rotation Test (MRT) and added parents’ scores on the SOT and MRT at Timepoint 2. Our initial analyses of normative development aligned with prior cross-sectional findings; overall navigation performance reached adult levels of proficiency around 12 years of age. In addition, variation in route integration abilities, as measured by between-route pointing, stabilized around 12 years of age; that is, longitudinal stability was higher in the older cohort than in the younger cohort. The same pattern appeared for the MRT.

Comparing Map Learning between Touchscreen-Based Visual and Haptic Displays: A Behavioral Evaluation with Blind and Sighted Users

The ubiquity of multimodal smart devices affords new opportunities for eyes-free applications for conveying graphical information to both sighted and visually impaired users. Using previously established haptic design guidelines for generic rendering of graphical content on touchscreen interfaces, the current study evaluates the learning and mental representation of digital maps, representing a key real-world translational eyes-free application. Two experiments involving 12 blind participants and 16 sighted participants compared cognitive map development and test performance on a range of spatio-behavioral tasks across three information-matched learning-mode conditions: (1) our prototype vibro-audio map (VAM), (2) traditional hardcopy-tactile maps, and (3) visual maps. Results demonstrated that when perceptual parameters of the stimuli were matched between modalities during haptic and visual map learning, test performance was highly similar (functionally equivalent) between the learning modes and participant groups. These results suggest equivalent cognitive map formation between both blind and sighted users and between maps learned from different sensory inputs, providing compelling evidence supporting the development of amodal spatial representations in the brain. The practical implications of these results include empirical evidence supporting a growing interest in the efficacy of multisensory interfaces as a primary interaction style for people both with and without vision. Findings challenge the long-held assumption that blind people exhibit deficits on global spatial tasks compared to their sighted peers, with results also providing empirical support for the methodological use of sighted participants in studies pertaining to technologies primarily aimed at supporting blind users.

Cognitive modeling of informatization influence on socio-economic indicators of the region

The article discusses topical issues of the influence of informatization on the development of the country’s regions in the conditions of the modern unstable world. The nature of the development of a region can be reflected and understood on the basis of qualitative and quantitative information about its socio-economic indicators, about their relationship and trends in their changes under the influence of internal and external factors. At the same time, information can most often be incomplete, difficult to access, untimely, contradictory, etc. Therefore, in this paper, it is proposed to use a cognitive approach and cognitive modeling of complex systems to overcome the problems of information deficiency by imitating cognitive modeling of the structure and behavior of a complex regional system. The simulation was carried out using the author’s CMCS (Cognitive Modeling Complex System) software system. The results of multi-stage cognitive modeling, consisting in the development of cognitive maps “Influence of ICT on the state of the region” and “Digitalization of the republic” (according to the socio-economic state of the Republic of Dagestan), analysis of structural properties and modeling scenarios for the development of situations on the model are presented. Scenarios make it possible to foresee the ways of possible development of the system under the influence of various factors, including the factor of informatization.

Enhancing human indoor cognitive map development and wayfinding performance with immersive augmented reality-based navigation systems

Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience where computer-generated perceptual information is superimposed into the real-world environment. Most existing research in AR-based wayfinding has focused on the technological aspects of developing AR-based software or devices to realize navigation. No previous investigations have focused on understanding the impact of immersive augmented reality (IAR)–based systems on human wayfinding performance from the cognitive perspective. Aimed at investigating the influence of IAR-based systems on people’s cognitive map development and their subsequent wayfinding performance as well as the effect of using three-dimensional (3D) layout models in IAR environments in addition to superimposed guideposts, an experiment was carried out in a building with a complex floor plan. A total of 54 university students were evenly divided into three groups: a control group with no IAR assistance, a second group using an IAR-based navigation system that includes only superimposed guideposts, and a third group using an IAR-based navigation system that includes both guideposts and a 3D layout model. Each participant was asked to conduct a spatial exploration task in the environment, sketch a floor map based on their spatial cognition, and perform a wayfinding task to find eight specific locations in the building. An analysis of the participants’ performance and responses to a number of self-evaluation questionnaires collected in the experiment indicates that IAR technology can help people develop their cognitive maps more effectively and can substantially improve their wayfinding performance with a much lower workload. A second finding is that adding a 3D layout model can enhance the effect of an IAR-based navigation system in terms of cognitive map development. The findings from this research extend the existing knowledge about IAR-based navigation and further verify that AR technology has the potential to reduce human workload for cognitive tasks. The results also could support its more effective application in various scenarios that require assisted wayfinding and cognitive map training, such as emergency evacuation drills.

Cognitive Mapping Without Vision: Comparing Wayfinding Performance After Learning From Digital Touchscreen-Based Multimodal Maps vs. Embossed Tactile Overlays.

This article starts by discussing the state of the art in accessible interactive maps for use by blind and visually impaired (BVI) people. It then describes a behavioral experiment investigating the efficacy of a new type of low-cost, touchscreen-based multimodal interface, called a vibro-audio map (VAM), for supporting environmental learning, cognitive map development, and wayfinding behavior on the basis of nonvisual sensing. In the study, eight BVI participants learned two floor-maps of university buildings, one using the VAM and the other using an analogous hardcopy tactile map (HTM) overlaid on the touchscreen. They were asked to freely explore each map, with the task of learning the entire layout and finding three hidden target locations. After meeting a learning criterion, participants performed an environmental transfer test, where they were brought to the corresponding physical layout and were asked to plan/navigate routes between learned target locations from memory, i.e., without access to the map used at learning. The results using Bayesian analyses aimed at assessing equivalence showed highly similar target localization accuracy and route efficiency performance between conditions, suggesting that the VAM supports the same level of environmental learning, cognitive map development, and wayfinding performance as is possible from interactive displays using traditional tactile map overlays. These results demonstrate the efficacy of the VAM for supporting complex spatial tasks without vision using a commercially available, low-cost interface and open the door to a new era of mobile interactive maps for spatial learning and wayfinding by BVI navigators.

Innovation in Education: Tools and Technologies

The article presents a summary of the analytical research into the development of individual cognitive maps among two categories of students — students of civil and military higher education institutions. The purpose of the research was to study the vision of their own career prospects after graduation from the university. The researchers focused on the behavioral reactions and self-evaluation patterns reflected in individual cognitive maps of reality, the socio-psychological analysis of which was tested with the methodology developed by G.N. Malyuchenko and V.M. Smirnova. It has been established that the “chaotic” model is dominant among students of civil higher education institutions, while the “organismic” model is more typical of military students. It has been found that individual cognitive maps are largely dependent on the self-evaluation of a particular individual, which indicates the possibility of correction of the relationship between individual world view and personal self-evaluation. Cognitive maps and mindsets can become more productive, whereas latent or potential needs for self-fulfillment are likely to transform into active aspirations for self-study and forming an image of the future.

Sensitive interfaces for blind people in virtual visits inside unknown spaces

Abstract Virtual reality applications with sensitive interfaces for blind users were developed and tested on smart mobiles running Android as operating system with the participation of twenty blind adults; each application was built with a cognitive interface and a combination of three sensitive interfaces (voice, beeps and gestures) to allow the user to explore the inside of a virtual scenario beforehand. The vibration was an extra, fixed sensitive interface that informed the user that the avatar was walking through the virtual world. The combination of different interfaces within the applications allowed to (1) provide multisensory information to the user while exploring an unknown virtual scenario, (2) build a model of the space in which the user is located and (3) successfully perform tasks in the real world. This research compared different patterns for each interface: 3 for voice, 3 for the beep and 4 for gestures, during the exploration of an unknown space, with the goal of determining which ones were the most efficient and effective at detecting, identifying and locating structures and objects in an unfamiliar environment, aiding blind users to develop a cognitive map of the explored place and successfully perform tasks within the real scenario. Evidence shows that the voice interface provides a statistically significant difference on effectiveness, efficiency, and cognitive mapping compared to other interfaces. Most decisively, pairwise comparisons have shown that, when compared to a normal speech rate, a speech rate 2 times faster manifested an improvement of 5.9% on object and structures detection, a reduction on exploration time of 39.72%, an improvement of 6% on quality of cognitive map development and greater success in carrying out the absolute tasks. The beep interface with 500 Hz frequency and 100 milliseconds spacing provided a statistically significant difference for cognitive mapping, showing an improvement of 8.9%. Finally, in the context of gesture interfaces, a single touch plus vertical swiping, produced statistically significant differences in the reduction of discovery time by 34.28%.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018 7:35 AM–9:00 AM ePosters: P57. NASS Think Tank workshop reveals psychological factors are central to understanding chronic low back pain

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Low back pain (LBP) is a bio-psycho-social condition and LBP patients are treated by various health professionals with different training and presumed beliefs. Considering that theoretical foundations and emphases vary among health disciplines, it is possible that these professionals (eg, researchers and clinicians from different disciplines) possess different “mental models” of what and how various factors relate to LBP. A novel way to investigate individual thinking about particular processes is through the development and analysis of fuzzy-logic cognitive maps (FCM). FCMs are particularly useful for modeling interactions between variables in complex systems, such as LBP. This study aimed to use this approach to describe similarities and differences by which different health professionals think about LBP. METHODS Participants from different disciplines (n=28), who have contributed significantly to the understanding of LBP (eg, publications, contributions to societies, etc.), were selectively recruited for this study and represented the following disciplines: (1) basic science (n=6), (2) chiropractic (n=4), (3) spine surgery (n=2), (4) physical medicine & rehabilitation (n=2), (5) physical or exercise therapy (n=12), and (6) psychology (n=2). Each participant underwent a structured one-on-one interview to construct an FCM that represented the individual's understanding (mental model) of how factors related to LBP using Mental Modeler software ( www.mentalmodeler.org ). This process involved nomination of factors contributing to patients’ outcomes (ie, pain, disability, and quality of life) and the weighting of the connections (strength of the effect) between these factors. Factors from each model were tabulated and categorized into eight domains: (1) nociceptive detection and processing, (2) behavioral or lifestyle (3) tissue injury or pathology, (4) contextual, (5) psychological(6) social or work, (7) biomechanical, and (8) individual factors. To determine the importance of each factor expressed in the FCM, centrality was computed as: Centrality = |a|*(# of connections in)+|b|*(# of connections out), where a and b are the weighting or strength of the connections. Based on this definition, centrality of a factor increases by the number of connections to and from the specific factor in the FCM, as well as by the weighting of these connections. Centrality of each domain (sum of centrality for each factor within the designated domain) was expressed as a percentage of the eight domains and grouped by discipline. RESULTS A total of 263 factors were generated from the 28 FCM. Psychological factors was the most prominent domain accounting for 33% of the centrality across all six participant groups, and was the most “central” domain for four groups (chiropractic, physical medicine and rehabilitation, physical or exercise therapy, and psychology). Tissue injury or pathology accounted for 14.7% of the centrality across all groups and was the most “central” for the remaining two groups (basic science and spinal surgery). CONCLUSIONS Psychological factors were considered to be the most central or important to understanding LBP across disciplines, yet many of these professions do not specialize in the psychology of LBP. Although the selection of individuals and the relatively small sample size representing each discipline may bias the results, such findings support the notion that multidisciplinary interventions (which includes consideration of psychological factors) to treating patients with LBP is sensible.

Scenario Modelling of the “Green” Economy in an Economic Space

The article utilizes the main elements of system analysis and the bases of cognitive science to analyze the concept of the “ecological and economic system”. The characteristics of the conceptual elements of the “green” economy dynamic model used in the application of cognitive analysis are given and their mutual influence is considered. A dynamic model of the “green” economy is developed, a general extended map and a reduced-parametric cognitive map of the development of the “green” economy in the economic space of the region are constructed. Scenario modelling of the development of the region’s “green” economy based on the intensification of the influence of one of the cognitive vertices of the model on the curve of the development of the “green” economy is carried out and described. Scenario modelling and development of cognitive maps are carried out using the software package Vensim Personal Learning Edition (PLE), which is widely applied in system analysis.

Charting the development of cognitive mapping

Developmental research beginning in the 1970s has suggested that children’s ability to form cognitive maps reaches adult levels during early adolescence. However, this research has used a variety of testing procedures, often in real-world environments, which have been difficult to share widely across labs and to use to probe components of mapping, individual differences in success, and possible mechanisms of development and reasons for individual variation. In this study, we charted the development of cognitive mapping using a virtual navigation paradigm, Silcton, that allows for testing samples of substantial size in a uniform way and in which adults show marked individual differences in the formation of accurate route representations and/or in route integration. The current study tested children aged between 8 and 16 years. In terms of components of normative development, children’s performance reached adult levels of proficiency at around age 12, but route representation progressed significantly more quickly than route integration. In terms of individual differences, by age 12 children could be grouped into the same three categories evident in adults: imprecise navigators (who form only imprecise ideas of routes), non-integrators (who represent routes more accurately but are imprecise in relating two routes), and integrators (who relate the two routes and, thus, form cognitive maps). Thus, individual differences likely originate during childhood. In terms of correlates, perspective-taking skills predicted navigation performance better than mental rotation skills, in accord with the view that perspective taking operates on extrinsic spatial representations, whereas mental rotation taps intrinsic spatial representations.

Assessment of between-floor structural and topological properties on cognitive map development in multilevel built environments

ABSTRACTThe present study investigated cognitive map development in multilevel built environments. Three experiments were conducted in complex virtual buildings to examine the effects of five between-floor structural factors that may impede the accuracy of humans’ ability to build multilevel cognitive maps. Results from Experiments 1 and 2 (of three experiments) revealed that difficulties in developing multilevel cognitive maps are not solely caused by the z-axis offset, as is suggested in the literature, but are due to the factorial combination of a between-floor overlap and a z-axis offset. Results from Experiment 2 showed that this process becomes substantially more difficult when the reference directions between different floors have an angular offset from each other. Finally, results from Experiment 3 demonstrated that confusing between-floor heading shifts in aligned buildings did not make it reliably harder to build multilevel cognitive maps. The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of theories of mental representations in multilayered three-dimensional spaces, as well as for architectural design.

Using Google trends data to assess public understanding on the environmental risks

ABSTRACTThis study proposes a method to assess the public understanding toward themes related to environment, biodiversity conservation and fishery. Since the Internet traffic is seen as the proxy of the public interest, this article analyzes the related Google Trends data to explore the cognitive map of the public. Patterning changes in the search volume (synchronous increase and decrease) were detected by using the association analysis. Weekly search volumes of the United States for the last 5 years have been gathered and were converted into values ranging between –1 and 1, indicating the gradual level of increase/decrease by the time. Apriori algorithm was used to determine the associations between search volumes of the keywords. As a consequence, several patterns were detected with a significant support indicating synchronous increases/decreases of the volumes. Upon the development of cognitive maps based on the detected patterns, it is found that the terms “Environment” and “Pollution” were the most significant and central terms. The search volume of the terms such as “Conservation,” “Ecology,” “Climate change,” “Invasive species” and “Endangered Species” increases as the search increases in the central terms. Therefore, these terms can be seen as the drivers/triggers of the Google search for some central words. It is apparent that the public has awareness of the central terms and further interest should be provoked and fostered on the environment-related concepts.

A Study of Quality in Primary Education Combined Disjoint Block Neutrosophic Cognitive Maps (CDBNCM)

Quality in primary education has been classified into five factors involving learners, content, processes, environment and outcomes. In this paper we analyzed, quality in primary education in Chennai and find out its solution using Neutrosophic cognitive maps (NCMS), which is the generalization of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMS) defined by W.B. Vasantha Kandasamy and Florentine Smarandache. This paper has five sections. First section gives information about development of fuzzy cognitive maps and Neutrosophic cognitive maps. Second section gives the preliminaries of FCMS and NCMS. In section three, we give the description of the problem; final section gives the conclusion based on our study.

Linguistic fuzzy consensus model for collaborative development of fuzzy cognitive maps: a case study in software development risks

Fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) have been widely used in several domains for information processing, such as, data fusion, decision making. Although several methods to automatically learn FCMs are recognized from the scientific literature, the most used approach to build an FCM relies on a collaborative task involving single person or, more suitably, group of experts. Collaborative development increases reliability and robustness of the resulting FCM, but rises some problems in terms of group decision making to aggregate different perspectives of the problem representation. This paper proposes to support collaborative development of FCMs introducing knowledge engineering process that relies on Linguistic Fuzzy Consensus Model. In the proposed approach, each expert builds the own version of the FCM. When all different versions are available, a Group Decision Making process is activated in order to reach the consensus on conflictual modeling opinions. The result is a unique final version of the FCM that is not a simple aggregation of the versions provided by the experts but is the result of a well-suited mathematical model. In addition, this work adopts consensus model with incomplete preference relations scheme to address knowledge harmonization issues. Finally, advantages and the limitations of the proposed framework are argued.

Graduate Diversity Officers and Efforts to Retain Students of Color

This qualitative study explores how 14 institutional agents (graduate diversity officers or GDOs) work towards improving retention for graduate students of Color. Consistent with Lovitt’s framework of graduate student retention, findings reveal GDOs implement diverse strategies that promote opportunities for academic integration, social integration, and the development of cognitive maps. GDOs’ effectiveness was challenged by limited financial and institutional support, as well as the campus and departmental climate, limiting efforts to promote academic integration.

Development of Cognitive Maps by Individuals with Blindness Using a Multisensory Application

Spatial knowledge is fundamental for the autonomy and the improvement of quality of life for individuals with blindness. Multisensory applications that integrate tactile and audio stimuli can provide to individuals with blindness valuable information associated with the structure and the content of space. Low cost haptic devices can significantly contribute in this direction. The present study examines the spatial knowledge that individuals with blindness may build by studying an audio-haptic map of a multisensory application, through the use of the low cost haptic device Novint Falcon. Ten adults with blindness (totally blind or only light perception) took part in the research. The age ranged from 19 years to 46 years. Participants managed to build significant spatial knowledge using the multisensory application. More specifically, rich cognitive maps were observed. The results reveal the usefulness of similar applications for individuals with blindness.

A Study on Miracles through Holy Bible using Combined Overlap Block Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (COBFCMS)

The Imperative reasons for miracles through Holy Bible using combined overlap block fuzzy cognitive maps (COBFCMS) defined by W.B Vasantha Kandasamy is analyzed in this paper. The combined overlap block FCM’s defined in this method become effective when the number of concepts can be grouped and are large in numbers. In this paper we analyzed the miracles and are large in number. In this paper we analyzed the miracles and find out the reasons how it is happened to people. This paper has six sections, first section gives the information about development of fuzzy cognitive maps, second section gives preliminaries of fuzzy cognitive maps, and combined overlap block fuzzy cognitive maps, in section three we explain about the miracles in bible, in section four we explain the method of determining their hidden pattern, in section five, we give the concept of the problem, final section gives the conclusion based on our studies.