Sex differences in spatial ability and spatial activities

Explanations of sex-related differences in spatial ability emphasizing the role of sex-differentiated experience have not been supported by direct measurement of spatial activities during adolescence, the period when these differences seem to increase. The present research involved development of a scale to measure the spatial experience of adolescents and adults. In Study 1, a list, as complete as possible of adolescent activities was compiled and given to undergraduate judges for ratings of involvement of spatial skills and sex-typing. Judges also indicated whether they had participated in each activity. Activities considered spatial by 75% or more of the judges were used to develop a spatial experience questionnaire. Judgments of the spatial nature of tasks were positively correlated with judged masculinity and with greater male than female participation. In Study 2, participation in spatial activities by undergraduates was correlated with spatial ability as measured by the Differential Aptitude Test. The activity questionnaire should prove useful in studying the development of spatial ability in adolescents and adults.     

Corresponding delay-dependent biases in spatial language and spatial memory

The present study addresses the relationship between linguistic and non-linguistic spatial representations. In three experiments we probe spatial language and spatial memory at the same time points in the task sequence. Experiments 1 and 2 show analogous delay-dependent biases in spatial language and spatial memory. Experiment 3 extends this correspondence, showing that additional perceptual structure along the vertical axis reduces delay-dependent effects in both tasks. These results indicate that linguistic and non-linguistic spatial systems depend on shared underlying representational processes. In addition, we also address how these delay-dependent biases can arise within a single theoretical framework without positing differing prototypes for linguistic and non-linguistic spatial systems.     

Modality-specific spatial coordinates

The development of spatial coordinates may depend on the integration of information from different modalities, or may be based on modality-specific coding. On the first assumption, the blind would be handicapped in deriving adequate spatial concepts, and on the other, no such handicap need exist. When spatial orientation is the salient feature of the task, subjects appear to profit from the integration of information from two or more modalities. When shape is salient, subjects adopt modality-specific coding strategies.     

Vibrotactile spatial summation

By means of a two-interval, forced-choice technique, absolute thresholds were obtained at several sites on the skin for short bursts of mechanical vibration. The difference between the energy required for a single vibrator, in dB, to reach threshold and the energy required for two vibrators presented successively to reach threshold was taken as the measure of probability summation. Spatial summation was computed as the difference between the energies required for threshold for the two vibrators presented successively and simultaneously. Both probability summation, 0.52 dB lowering in threshold, and spatial summation, 1.94 dB lowering in threshold, remained constant as a function of the distance between the two vibrators on the thigh. Similar amounts of summation were obtained unilaterally and bilaterally on the fingers. When the frequency of vibration was lowered to 9 Hz, no spatial summation was found. When the frequencies of vibration at the two test sites were different, 160 Hz at one locus, 360 Hz at the other locus, there was no spatial summation.     

Modeling spatial knowledge

A person's cognitive map, or knowledge of large-scale space, is built up from observations gathered as he travels through the environment. It acts as a problem solver to find routes and relative positions, as well as describing the current location. The TOUR model captures the multiple representations that make up the cognitive map, the problem-solving strategies it uses, and the mechanisms for assimilating new information. The representations have rich collections of states of partial knowledge, which support many of the performance characteristics of common-sense knowledge.     

A dissociation between object manipulation spatial ability and spatial orientation ability

We developed psychometric tests of spatial orientation ability, in which people are shown a two-dimensional array of objects, imagine taking a perspective within the array, and indicate the direction to a target object from this perspective. Patterns of errors on these tests were consistent with experimental studies of perspective taking. Characteristic errors and verbal protocols supported the validity of the perspective-taking tests, suggesting that people encoded the objects in the display with respect to a body-centered coordinate system when the imagined perspective was more than 90 degrees different from the orientation of the display. By comparing alternative models in a confirmatory factor analysis, we found that the ability to mentally rotate and manipulate an imagined object (as measured by tests of spatial visualization and spatial relations) and the ability to reorient the imagined self (as measured by the perspective-taking tests) are separable spatial abilities.     

内外源性空间注意对多感觉整合的影响

本文采用内-外源性空间线索靶子范式, 操控内源性线索有效性(有效线索、无效线索)、外源性线索有效性(有效线索、无效线索)、目标刺激类型(视觉刺激、听觉刺激、视听觉刺激)三个自变量。通过两个不同任务难度的实验(实验1: 简单定位任务; 实验2: 复杂辨别任务)来考察内外源性空间注意对多感觉整合的影响。两个实验结果均发现外源性空间注意显著减弱了多感觉整合效应, 内源性空间注意没有显著增强多感觉整合效应; 实验2中还发现了内源性空间注意会对外源性空间注意减弱多感觉整合效应产生影响。结果表明, 与内源性空间注意不同, 外源性空间注意对多感觉整合的影响不易受任务难度的调控; 当任务较难时内源性空间注意会影响外源性空间注意减弱多感觉整合效应的过程。由此推测, 内外源性空间注意对多感觉整合的调节并非彼此独立、而是相互影响的。     

无空间线索化下视觉注意空间等级的ERP研究

采用事件相关电位技术考察无空间线索化下视觉注意资源的在不同空间等级的分布情况。在“预警信号-目标探测”范式下,目标刺激随机出现在直径视角为3.2°、6.4°以及9.6°的三个空间等级圆上。反应时结果显示：随着注意空间直径视角增大,对目标刺激的探测速度逐渐下降。脑电结果显示：三种条件下目标刺激诱发的早期N1和晚期P3成分产生了不同程度分离,主要表现为两成分的波幅随着注意空间视角增大而减小。这说明个体在无空间线索化下自动地对不同空间等级进行有选择性的资源分配。     

Everyday spatial activities test for studying differential spatial experience and vocational behavior

Described is a four-factor, 20-item Everyday Spatial Activities Test (ESAT) developed for use with college students for studying the contribution of differential spatial experiences to educational and vocational behaviors. Item data are presented based on samples of 158 female and 113 male first-year students. Correlations with objective tests, including a test of space visualization, establishes preliminary validity for the ESAT.     

Grounded spatial belief revision

Beliefs frequently undergo revisions, especially when new pieces of information are true but inconsistent with current beliefs. In previous studies, we showed that linguistic asymmetries provided by relational statements, play a crucial role in spatial belief revision. Located objects (LO) are preferably revised compared to reference objects (RO), known as the LO-principle. Here we establish a connection between spatial belief revision and grounded cognition. In three experiments, we explored whether imagined physical object properties influence which object is relocated and which remains at its initial position. Participants mentally revised beliefs about the arrangements of objects which could be envisaged as light and heavy (Experiment 1), small and large (Experiment 2), or movable and immovable (Experiment 3). The results show that intrinsic object properties are differently taken into account during spatial belief revision. Object weight did not alter the LO-principle (Experiment 1), whereas object size was found to influence which object was preferably relocated (Experiment 2). Object movability did not affect relocation preferences but had an effect on relocation durations (Experiment 3). The findings support the simulation hypothesis within the grounded cognition approach and create new connections between the spatial mental model theory of reasoning and the idea of grounded cognition.     

Power and spatial relations

Embodied views of language hold that perceptual and motor simulations are involved during comprehension. Study 1 investigated power-related language in a picture recognition task wherein participants judged whether the picture presented at either the upper or lower screen position matched the sentence. In Study 2, participants chose the picture that best described the sentence between two (identical) images that were aligned vertically. Results demonstrated that participants responded faster to pictures presented at the implied location and chose that picture more often. Such results suggest that spatial information implicit in power-related language is involved in linguistic comprehension.     

Inconsistency in spatial knowledge

Two experiments examined whether spatial information judged from cognitive maps contains the functional euclidean properties of real maps. In Experiment 1, the six directions between sets of threetriad locations in a town were judged from memory. The angle formed by the two judged directions from a location to the other two locations in a triad was derived. The three derived angles of a triad were then summed. The derived angles were found to be biased toward 90 deg. The sum of the three derived angles of a triad also exceeded 180 deg, which violates the euclidean properties of real maps. In Experiment 2, subjects judged the direction between pairs of American cities in both directions. The judged directions were found to be consistently nonreversible, which is contrary to the properties of euclidean geometry. The study suggests that information judged from cognitive maps can contain internally inconsistent spatial properties, and the results are discussed in terms of current theories of spatial representation.     

High-capacity spatial contextual memory

Humans show implicit memory for complex spatial layouts, which aids in subsequent processing of these layouts. Research efforts in the past 5 years have focused primarily on a single session of training involving a dozen repeated displays. Yet every day, people encounter many more visual layouts than were presented in such experiments. In this study, we trained subjects to learn 60 repeated displays, randomly intermixed within 1,800 nonrepeated displays, spread over 5 consecutive days. On each day, the subjects conducted visual search on 360 new displays and a new set of 12 repeated displays, each repeated 30 times. Contextual memory was observed daily. One week after the fifth session, the subjects still searched faster on the repeated displays learned previously. We conclude that the visual system has a high capacity for learning and retaining repeated spatial context, an ability that may compensate for our severe limitations in visual attention and working memory.     

Training generalized spatial skills

Spatial transformation skills are an essential aspect of cognitive ability. These skills can be improved by practice, but such improvement has usually been specific to tasks and stimuli. The present study investigated whether intensive long-term practice leads to change that transcends stimulus and task parameters. Thirty-one participants (14 male, 17 female) were tested on three cognitive tasks: a computerized version of the Shepard-Metzler (1971) mental rotation task (MRT), a mental paper-folding task (MPFT), and a verbal analogies task (VAT). Each individual then participated in daily practice sessions with the MRT or the MPFT over 21 days. Postpractice comparisons revealed transfer of practice gains to novel stimuli for the practiced task, as well as transfer to the other, nonpracticed spatial task. Thus, practice effects were process based, not instance based. Improvement in the nonpracticed spatial task was greater than that in the VAT; thus, improvement was not merely due to greater ease with computerized testing.