1,720,999 research outputs found
Building digital cube houses to improve mental rotation skills
No full textPrior research indicates that spatial skills, such as mental rotation skills (MRS), are a strong predictor for mathematics achievement, while other studies have also shown that MRS can be improved through training. This paper explores whether a well-known puzzle-oriented tool for building houses with 3D cubes is effective in improving performance in a standardised MRS measure that recorded accuracy and speed. The field experiment took place with 85 year 7 (11–12 year olds) pupils from an independent secondary school in the south of England. We used two conditions in the experiment, with the puzzle-oriented training tool being the intervention condition. The findings show there was a significant effect for accuracy but not for speed. Contrary to prior research our findings did not show any gender effects. The findings and implications are discussed in light of the existing literature around spatial skills, as well as design aspects
Common elements enhance or retard negative patterning discrimination learning depending on modality of stimuli
No full textHuman contingency learning studies were used to compare the predictions of configural and elemental theories. In two experiments, participants were required to learn which stimuli were associated with an increase in core temperature of a fictitious nuclear plant. Experiments investigated the rate at which a simple Negative Patterning discrimination (A+ B+ ABø) was learned compared to one containing a common but irrelevant element (CD+ CE+ CDEø). When the three elements were from separate modalities (Visual, Auditory and Tactile) the common element enhanced the rate at which the discrimination was learned. When stimuli were drawn from a single modality (Visual) the common element disrupted learning. A single elemental model, Harris and Livesey’s (2010) attention modulated associative network, was shown to predict both sets of results as the model predicts elements from the same modality attenuate summation. In Experiment 2, the common element was separately paired with a consistent outcome (Co) and the effect of the common element within the discrimination was found to be removed, again in line with the predictions of Harris and Livesy (2010)
Multi-modal discrimination learning in humans: evidence for configural theory
No full textHuman contingency learning was used to compare the predictions of configural and elemental theories. In three experiments, participants were required to learn which indicators were associated with an increase in core temperature of a fictitious nuclear plant. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated the rate at which a triple-element stimulus (ABC) could be discriminated from either single-element stimuli (A, B, and C) or double-element stimuli (AB, BC, and AC). Experiment 1 used visual stimuli, whilst Experiment 2 used visual, auditory, and tactile stimuli. In both experiments the participants took longer to discriminate the triple-element stimulus from the more similar double-element stimuli than from the less similar single-element stimuli. Experiment 3 tested for summation with stimuli from either single or multiple modalities and summation was found only in the latter. Thus the pattern of results seen in Experiments 1 and 2 was not dependent on whether the stimuli were single- or multi-modal nor was it dependent on whether the stimuli could elicit summation. This pattern of results is consistent with the predictions of Pearce’s (1987) configural theory
Interaction between locale and taxon strategies in human spatial learning
No full textThree computer-based experiments which tested human participants in a non-immersive virtual watermaze task sought to determine factors which dictate whether the presence of a visual platform disrupts locale learning and taxon learning. In Experiment 1, the visible platform disrupted locale but not taxon learning based on viewpoint-independent and viewpoint-dependent information, respectively. In Experiment 2, taxon learning based on non-geometric cues providing viewpoint-dependent information was disrupted by the visible platform when the cues required relational information to disambiguate them from other cues. Experiment 3 placed participants in an isosceles triangular pool. The presence of the visible platform did not disrupt the encoding of relational information provided by shape of the pool. These results support the notion that geometric cues are encoded in a separate module which is impenetrable to non-geometric cues not creating the shape of the environment
Factors influencing orientation within a nested virtual environment: external cues, active exploration and familiarity
No full textThree experiments using a spatial orientation task within a computer generated building examined the factors influencing maintenance of orientation to an external reference frame within a nested environment. Having explored a virtual building, participants were asked to point to an occluded external cue from 4 different rooms. Experiment 1 orientation errors were less in external rooms and previously visited internal rooms. To assess importance of guiding instructions, participants in Experiment 2 were shown a video of the building. Again orientation errors were less in previously visited rooms. Participants in Experiment 3 had no experience of the building. Participants shown the video were unable to maintain orientation in the internal visited room. Results suggest that maintaining orientation to an external frame of reference requires either access to an external cue or active exploration. Without previous familiarity passive exposure was not sufficient to maintain orientation within the building
Preexposure effects in spatial learning: from gestaltic to associative and attentional cognitive maps
No full textIn this paper a series of studies and theoretical proposals about how preexposure to environmental cues affects subsequent spatial learning are reviewed. Traditionally, spatial learning had been thought to depend on gestaltic non-associative processes, and well established phenomena such as latent learning or instantaneous transfer have been taken to provide evidence for this sort of cognitive mapping. However, reviewing the literature examining these effects reveals that there is no need to advocate for gestaltic processes since standard associative learning theory provides an adequate framework for accounting for navigation skills. Recent studies reveal that attentional processes play a role in spatial learning. The need for an integrated attentional and associative approach to explain spatial learning is discussed
The effects of pre-exposure on escape from a Morris pool
No full textIn two experiments rats were pre-exposed to the landmarks surrounding a Morris pool while they swam to a platform with a beacon attached to it. They were then required to escape from the pool by finding the platform, without the beacon, in a new position. When the platform remained in the same place for each pre-exposure session, but was moved from session to session, then subsequent escape from the pool was more rapid than when the landmarks were not visible during pre-exposure (Experiment 1). But when the platform was moved from trial to trial during pre-exposure, then subsequent escape from the pool was disrupted (Experiments 1 and 2). It is proposed that pre-exposure to the landmark alters the attention that is paid to them, which then influences how readily the landmarks can be used to identify the new position of the platform
Spatial exploration patterns determine navigation efficiency: trade-off between memory demands and distance travelled
No full textA total of 41 participants explored a novel square-shaped environment containing five identical boxes each hiding a visually distinct object. After an initial free exploration the participants were required to locate the objects first in a predetermined and subsequently in an optional order task. Two distinct exploration strategies emerged: Participants explored either along the main axes of the room (axial), or in a more spatially spread, circular pattern around the edges of the room (circular). These initial exploration strategies influenced the optimality of spatial navigation performance in the subsequent optional order task. The results reflect a trade-off between memory demands and distance efficiency. The more sequential axial strategy resulted in fewer demands on spatial memory but required more distance to be travelled. The circular strategy was more demanding on memory but required less subsequent travelling distance. The findings are discussed in terms of spatial knowledge acquisition and optimality of strategy representations
Active pre-exposure enhances attention to landmarks surrounding a Morris swimming pool
No full textRats were required to swim to a hidden platform in order to escape from a Morris pool, after they had been exposed to the landmarks around the pool by swimming to a platform that had a beacon attached to it. The platform occupied a different place for the test trials than for the preexposure trials. Escape from the pool was facilitated if the landmarks remained in the same place throughout preexposure, but if their positions were changed during preexposure, then subsequent escape from the pool was disrupted (Experiment 2). Escape learning was also disrupted if the rats were placed on the platform for their preexposure treatment (Experiment 3). The results indicate that the associability of the cues around a Morris pool may be enhanced when they are in a stable spatial relationship with the platform throughout each preexposure session
Impaired instrumental choice in crib-biting horses (Equus caballus)
No full textHorses displaying an oral stereotypy were tested on an instrumental choice paradigm to examine differences in learning from non-stereotypic counterparts. The paradigm was specifically applied in order to examine learning that requires maintenance of response-outcome judgements. The stereotypic horses were found not to choose a more immediate reinforcer over three learning sessions. This suggests an initial behavioural correlate for dorsomedial striatum dysregulation in the stereotypy phenotype
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