Richards Jason T, Oman Charles M, Shebilske Wayne L, Beall Andrew C, Liu Andrew, Natapoff Alan
Man Vehicle Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
J Vestib Res. 2002;12(5-6):223-38.
Human orientation requires one to remember and visualize spatial arrangements of landmarks from different perspectives. Astronauts have reported difficulties remembering relationships between environmental landmarks when imagined in arbitrary 3D orientations. The present study investigated the effects of strategy training on humans' 1) ability to infer their orientation from landmarks presented ahead and below, 2) performance when subsequently learning a different array, and 3) retention of configurational knowledge over time. On the first experiment day, 24 subjects were tested in a virtual cubic chamber in which a picture of an animal was drawn on each wall. Through trial-by-trial exposures, they had to memorize the spatial relationships among the six pictures around them and learn to predict the direction to a specific picture when facing any view direction, and in any roll orientation. Half of the subjects ("strategy group") were taught methods for remembering picture groupings, while the remainder received no such training ("control group"). After learning one picture array, the procedure was repeated in a second. Accuracy (% correct) and response time learning curves were measured. Performance for the second array and configurational memory of both arrays were also retested 1, 7, and 30 days later. Results showed that subjects "learned how to learn" this generic 3D spatial memory task regardless of their relative orientation to the environment, that ability and configurational knowledge was retained for at least a month, that figure rotation ability and field independence correlate with performance, and that teaching subjects specific strategies in advance significantly improves performance. Training astronauts to perform a similar generic 3D spatial memory task, and suggesting strategies in advance, may help them orient in three dimensions.
人类的方向定位需要一个人从不同视角记住并想象地标物的空间布局。宇航员报告称，当以任意三维方向想象环境地标之间的关系时，他们很难记住这些关系。本研究调查了策略训练对人类的以下影响：1）根据前方和下方呈现的地标物推断自身方向的能力；2）随后学习不同阵列时的表现；3）随着时间推移对构型知识的保持。在实验的第一天，24名受试者在一个虚拟的立方舱中接受测试，舱内每面墙上都画有一幅动物图片。通过逐次试验接触，他们必须记住周围六幅图片之间的空间关系，并学会在面对任何视角方向和任何滚动方向时预测指向特定图片的方向。一半的受试者（“策略组”）被教授了记住图片分组的方法，而其余受试者（“对照组”）没有接受此类训练。在学习了一个图片阵列后，程序在第二个阵列中重复进行。测量了准确率（正确百分比）和反应时间学习曲线。在1天、7天和30天后，还对第二个阵列的表现以及两个阵列的构型记忆进行了重新测试。结果表明，受试者“学会了如何学习”这项通用的三维空间记忆任务，无论他们相对于环境的相对方向如何；能力和构型知识至少能保持一个月；图形旋转能力和场独立性与表现相关；提前教授受试者特定策略能显著提高表现。训练宇航员执行类似的通用三维空间记忆任务，并提前建议策略，可能有助于他们在三维空间中定位。
