Which Way is the Bookstore? A Closer Look at the Judgments of Relative Directions Task

Overview

Journal Spat Cogn Comput

Date 2019 May 21

PMID 31105466

Citations 7

Authors

Derek J Huffman

Arne D Ekstrom

Affiliations

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Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of a widely used assay in human spatial cognition, the judgments of relative direction (JRD) task. We conducted three experiments involving virtual navigation interspersed with the JRD task, and included confidence judgments and map drawing as additional metrics. We also present a technique for assessing the similarity of the cognitive representations underlying performance on the JRD and map drawing tasks. Our results support the construct validity of the JRD task and its connection to allocentric representation. Additionally, we found that chance performance on the JRD task depends on the distribution of the angles of participants' responses, rather than being constant and 90 degrees. Accordingly, we present a method for better determining chance performance.

Citing Articles

Using spontaneous eye blink-related brain activity to investigate cognitive load during mobile map-assisted navigation.

Cheng B, Lin E, Wunderlich A, Gramann K, Fabrikant S Front Neurosci. 2023; 17:1024583.

PMID: 36866330 PMC: 9971562. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.1024583.

Spatial memory distortions for the shapes of walked paths occur in violation of physically experienced geometry.

Du Y, McAvan A, Zheng J, Ekstrom A PLoS One. 2023; 18(2):e0281739.

PMID: 36763702 PMC: 9916584. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0281739.

A computational cognitive model of judgments of relative direction.

Newman P, Cox G, McNamara T Cognition. 2021; 209:104559.

PMID: 33388527 PMC: 8205961. DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104559.

Current Promises and Limitations of Combined Virtual Reality and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Research in Humans: A Commentary on Huffman and Ekstrom (2019).

Steel A, Robertson C, Taube J J Cogn Neurosci. 2020; 33(2):159-166.

PMID: 33054553 PMC: 10284033. DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01635.

Landmarks: A solution for spatial navigation and memory experiments in virtual reality.

Starrett M, McAvan A, Huffman D, Stokes J, Kyle C, Smuda D Behav Res Methods. 2020; 53(3):1046-1059.

PMID: 32939682 PMC: 8007414. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01481-6.

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