虚拟环境中大尺度空间定向能力的地域差异

基于空间参照系理论,本文采用虚拟现实技术探讨了大尺度空间定向能力的地域差异及其原因。实验1采用基于两种空间参照系且生态效度更高的路线重走与回溯任务以考察空间定向能力的地域差异;实验2进一步采用基于空间参照转换灵活性的定向接近任务以澄清该差异产生的原因;实验3通过在任务前激活环境中心参照,提高转换灵活性以改善南方被试大尺度空间定向能力。结果发现,大尺度空间定向能力存在地域差异,北方被试更擅长环境中心参照的任务,南方被试的自我中心参照在任务中有更大优势作用;说明该地域差异除与个体空间参照使用偏好有关之外,还与其空间参照转换灵活性有关;而当南方被试环境中心参照被激活,任务绩效显著提升。     

自我构念启动对空间参照框架的影响

采用圈代词启动法及空间参照框架判断任务,探究自我构念启动能否改变被试对空间参照框架判断的认知加工过程。结果发现:(1)客体中心参照框架判断的整体正确率大于自我中心参照框架判断;(2)仅在独立型自我构念启动的一致条件下,被试的自我中心参照框架判断正确率高于客体中心参照框架的判断正确率;(3)独立型自我构念使男性更少受到自我中心干扰。结果表明,独立型自我构念启动可能对自我中心参照框架判断具有促进效应,但互倚型自我构念启动不能促进客体中心参照框架判断。     

空间参照体系对心理旋转的影响

人类视觉系统不仅运用多重参照体系来建构客体的空间位置表征,也运用这些参照体系进行空间表征的动力转换.本研究采用实验方法,在心理旋转任务中对想象空间自我中心参照体系和客体中心参照体系的转换策略进行对比研究.实验结果表明:空间参照体系对心理旋转产生显著影响,自我中心参照体系转换易于客体中心参照体系转换,即存在心理旋转的视者优势.     

自我优势效应对远近空间中空间参照框架的影响

联合颜色−标签匹配任务和空间参照框架判断任务,考察自我优势效应对远近空间中空间参照框架表征的影响。颜色−标签匹配任务要求被试对颜色（黑色/白色叉子）与标签词（自我/他人）之间建立稳定的联结,被试随机分为自我联结组和他人联结组,两组被试均需在远近空间中完成空间参照表征任务。结果发现：（1）与他人联结组相比,自我联结组表现出显著的自我优势效应;（2）自我优势效应对空间参照表征的影响仅体现在近处空间且对自我中心表征任务的影响更大。研究表明,自我优势效应优先影响近处空间表征,表现出近处优先性。     

序列本体感觉学习获得稳定的自我中心空间表征*

通过同步视觉或者序列本体感觉,被试学习不规则场景。学习完毕之后,在面对学习方向、自主旋转240°、和持续旋转直至迷向3种运动条件下,被试随机指出各个物体的位置。迷向导致同步视觉学习组指向的内部一致性显著变差,而序列本体感觉学习组不受迷向影响。离线的相对位置判断任务表明两组被试的环境中心空间表征没有差异。这证明通过序列本体感觉学习被试也可以形成稳定的自我中心空间表征,支持了空间快照理论的扩展和空间认知的功能等价假说。     

认知闭合需要、框架效应与决策偏好

在带有模糊性的决策情境中,决策者个人的认知特征会对其判断决策产生重要影响。通过实验的方法,考察了认知闭合需要和特征框架效应对个体决策偏好的影响。93名工商管理硕士（MBA）参与了实验,研究的结果支持了本研究的3个假设,即认知闭合需要与特征框架效应不仅对被试的决策偏好存在显著的影响,而且二者还存在显著的交互作用。具体来说,研究发现,在模糊情境中：高认知闭合需要的被试偏好于立刻做出决策,而低认知闭合需要的被试偏好于暂缓做出决策;接收到正向框架信息的被试偏好于立刻做出决策,而接收到负向框架信息的被试偏好于暂缓做出决策;认知闭合需要与特征框架对被试的决策偏好还存在显著的交互作用。研究结论为根据个体认知闭合需要的水平来选拔决策者、利用框架效应来影响个体的信息加工方式进而提高决策质量提供了理论依据     

物体位置与空间关系的心理表征

外界环境中物体位置与空间关系在记忆中如何表征,一直是空间认知研究领域探讨和争论的热点问题。该文从空间表征的参照框架、朝向特异性、组织结构和存储内容四个方面,系统回顾了近年来对空间表征形成机制与内在特征的理论探讨。在此基础上,进一步讨论了当前空间表征研究中存在的生态效度问题,以及以后将虚拟环境技术引入到空间认知研究中的发展趋势     

空间知觉的透视理论

空间知觉与人在观察时的认知过程和透视结构有关,它还涉及不同参照系统信号之间的连续转换,运动自我透视和运动时间透视与整体和局部透视类似。视觉输入以视网膜协调的方式进行编码,来自每只眼睛的网膜中心值需要整合并与眼睛位置和眼动的信号相混合,形成自我中心信号。自我中心信号进一步转化为一个三维协调系统——自我中心参照系统。视觉系统的神经输出是地球中心信号。     

智障儿童空间参考框架的选择

采用Levinson的旋转实验,考察了智障儿童在空间任务中参考框架的选择。结果发现:(1)在非言语的空间操作任务中,智障儿童倾向于选择以观察者为中心的相对参考框架;(2)智障儿童的空间参考框架的选择倾向主要由他们的认知能力、语言能力、自我中心倾向以及习惯空间术语的影响导致。     

框架效应中的个体差异

框架效应是指框架的改变导致个体对同一问题的备择方案产生偏好转变的现象。Tversky和Kahneman的系列研究证实框架效应普遍存在, 但是随着研究的深入, 众多研究者发现个体特征会影响框架效应的稳定性, 这些个体特征主要包括人格、认知能力、认知风格、年龄和性别等。我们将来应该进一步从认知和情绪的角度, 全面研究框架效应个体差异的心理机制, 构建动态、综合的框架效应理论模型。     

Remembering object position in the absence of vision: egocentric, allocentric, and egocentric decentred frames of reference

In three experiments we examined whether memory for object locations in the peri-personal space in the absence of vision is affected by the correspondence between encoding and test either of the body position or of the reference point. In particular, the study focuses on the distinction between different spatial representations, by using a paradigm in which participants are asked to relocate objects explored haptically. Three frames of reference were systematically compared. In experiment 1, participants relocated the objects either from the same position of learning by taking as reference their own body (centred egocentric condition) or from a 90 degrees decentred position (allocentric condition). Performance was measured in terms of linear distance errors and angular distance errors. Results revealed that the allocentric condition was more difficult than the centred egocentric condition. In experiment 2, participants performed either the centred egocentric condition or a decentred egocentric condition, in which the body position during the test was the same as at encoding (egocentric) but the frame of reference was based on a point decentred by 90 degrees. The decentred egocentric condition was found to be more difficult than the centred egocentric condition. Finally, in experiment 3, participants performed in the decentred egocentric condition or the allocentric condition. Here, the allocentric condition was found to be more difficult than the decentred egocentric condition. Taken together, the results suggest that also in the peripersonal space and in the absence of vision different frames of reference can be distinguished. In particular, the decentred egocentric condition involves a frame of reference which seems to be neither allocentric nor totally egocentric.     

听障和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用

通过要求被试分别在近处空间和远处空间完成空间参照框架的判断任务, 考察了听障和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用。结果表明：(1)相对于听力正常人群, 听障人群完成自我参照框架判断任务的反应时更长, 而在完成环境参照框架判断任务无显著差异; (2)听障人群和听力正常人群空间主导性和空间参照框架交互作用呈现出相反模式。研究表明, 听障人群在听力功能受损后, 其空间主导性和空间参照框架的交互作用也产生了变化。     

The human parahippocampal cortex subserves egocentric spatial learning during navigation in a virtual maze

BackgroundPresent evidence suggests that the hippocampus (HC) and the parahippocampal cortex (PHC) are involved in allocentric (world-centered) spatial memory. However, the putative role of the PHC in egocentric (body-centered) spatial learning has received only limited systematic investigation.MethodsTo examine the role of the PHC in egocentric learning, 19 healthy volunteers learned to find their way in a virtual maze during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The virtual maze presented a first-person view, lacked any topographical landmarks and could be learned only using egocentric navigation strategies.ResultsDuring learning, increased medial temporal lobe activity was observed in the PHC bilaterally. Activity was also observed in cortical areas known to project to the PHC and proposed to contribute to egocentric spatial navigation and memory.ConclusionsOur results point to a role of the PHC for the representation and storage of egocentric information. It seems possible that the PHC contributes to egocentric memory by its feedback projections to the posterior parietal cortex. Moreover, access to allocentric and egocentric streams of spatial information may enable the PHC to construct a global and comprehensive representation of spatial environments and to promote the construction of stable cognitive maps by translating between egocentric and allocentric frames of memory.     

Space in Hand and Mind: Gesture and Spatial Frames of Reference in Bilingual Mexico

Speakers of many languages prefer allocentric frames of reference (FoRs) when talking about small-scale space, using words like “east” or “downhill.” Ethnographic work has suggested that this preference is also reflected in how such speakers gesture. Here, we investigate this possibility with a field experiment in Juchitán, Mexico. In Juchitán, a preferentially allocentric language (Isthmus Zapotec) coexists with a preferentially egocentric one (Spanish). Using a novel task, we elicited spontaneous co-speech gestures about small-scale motion events (e.g., toppling blocks) in Zapotec-dominant speakers and in balanced Zapotec-Spanish bilinguals. Consistent with prior claims, speakers’ spontaneous gestures reliably reflected either an egocentric or allocentric FoR. The use of the egocentric FoR was predicted—not by speakers’ dominant language or the language they used in the task—but by mastery of words for “right” and “left,” as well as by properties of the event they were describing. Additionally, use of the egocentric FoR in gesture predicted its use in a separate nonlinguistic memory task, suggesting a cohesive cognitive style. Our results show that the use of spatial FoRs in gesture is pervasive, systematic, and shaped by several factors. Spatial gestures, like other forms of spatial conceptualization, are thus best understood within broader ecologies of communication and cognition.     

Spatial encoding of hidden objects in dogs (Canis familiaris)

The authors investigated the type of spatial information that controls domestic dogs' (Canis familiaris) search behavior in a situation in which they have to locate a spatial position where they saw an object move and disappear. In Experiments 1 and 2, the authors manipulated all local and global sources of allocentric spatial information surrounding the hiding location. The results revealed that dogs relied on an egocentric frame of reference. Experiment 3 showed that dogs also encoded allocentric information when egocentric information was irrelevant. The authors conclude that dogs simultaneously encode both egocentric and allocentric spatial information to locate a spatial position, but they primarily base their search behavior on an egocentric frame of reference. The authors discuss under which natural conditions dogs might use these 2 sources of spatial information and detail the nature of spatial egocentric information and the circumstances underlying its use by dogs.     

Theories of spatial representations and reference frames: What can configuration errors tell us?

The issue of reference frame is central to theories of spatial representations. Various classifications have been made for different types of reference frames, along with prototypical research paradigms to distinguish between them. This article focuses on the configuration error paradigm proposed by Wang and Spelke (Cognition 77:215-250, 2000) that has been used to examine the nature of the spatial representations underlying object localization during self-movement. Three basic models of spatial memory and spatial updating are discussed, as well as the assumptions behind the configuration error paradigm, to distinguish between static representations, such as the traditional allocentric cognitive map and the egocentric snapshots, and dynamic representations, such as the egocentric updating system. Recent experimental findings are reexamined and shown to be consistent with multiple models, among which the egocentric-updating-and-reload model with an enduring egocentric component provides the simplest interpretations.     

Haptic space processing--allocentric and egocentric reference frames.

In this paper a haptic matching, task is used to analyze haptic spatial processing. In various conditions, blindfolded participants were asked to make a test bar parallel to a reference bar. This always resulted in large but systematic deviations. It will be shown that the results can be described with a model in which an egocentric reference frame biases the participants' settings: What a participant haptically perceives as parallel is a weighted average of parallel in allocentric space and parallel in egocentric space. The basis of the egocentric reference frame is uncertain. There is strong evidence that at least a hand-centred reference frame is involved, but possibly a body-centred reference frame also plays a role.     

A study on the role of the dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens in allocentric and egocentric spatial memory consolidation

There is now accumulating evidence that the striatal complex in its two major components, the dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens, contributes to spatial memory. However, the possibility that different striatal subregions might modulate specific aspects of spatial navigation has not been completely elucidated. Therefore, in this study, two different learning procedures were used to determine whether the two striatal components could be distinguished on the basis of their involvement in spatial learning using different frames of reference: allocentric and egocentric. The task used involved the detection of a spatial change in the configuration of four objects placed in an arena, after the mice had had the opportunity to experience the objects in a constant position for three previous sessions. In the first part of the study we investigated whether changes in the place where the animals were introduced into the arena during habituation and testing could induce a preferential use of an egocentric or an allocentric frame of reference. In the second part of the study we performed focal injections of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptors' antagonist, AP-5, within the two subregions immediately after training. The results indicate that using the two behavioral procedures, the animals rely on an egocentric and an allocentric spatial frame of reference. Furthermore, they demonstrate that AP-5 (37.5, 75, and 150 ng/side) injections into the dorsal striatum selectively impaired consolidation of spatial information in the egocentric but not in the allocentric procedure. Intra-accumbens AP-5 administration, instead, impaired animals trained using both procedures.     

How different spatial representations interact in virtual environments: the role of mental frame syncing

This experiment is aimed at understanding how egocentric experiences, allocentric viewpoint-dependent representations, and allocentric viewpoint-independent representations interact when encoding and retrieving a spatial environment. Although several cognitive theories have highlighted the interaction between reference frames, it is less clear about the role of a real-time presentation of allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation on the spatial organization of information. Sixty participants were asked to navigate in two virtual cities to memorize the position of one hidden object. Half of the participants had the possibility to visualize the virtual city with an interactive aerial view. Then, they were required to find the position of the object in three different experimental conditions (“retrieval with an interactive aerial view” vs. “retrieval on a map” vs. “retrieval without an interactive aerial view”). Results revealed that participants were significantly more precise in retrieving the position of the object when immersed in an egocentric experience with the interactive aerial view. The retrieval of spatial information is facilitated by the presence of the interactive aerial view of the city, since it provides a real-time allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation. More participants with high preference for using cardinal points tend to be more accurate when they were asked to retrieve the position of the object on the map. As suggested by the mental frame syncing hypothesis, the presence of an allocentric viewpoint-dependent representation during the retrieval seems to ease the imposition on a specific viewpoint on the stored abstract allocentric viewpoint-independent representation. Our findings represent another significant step toward the comprehension of the organization of spatial representations of our environment.