Sturz Bradley R, Kelly Debbie M
Department of Psychology, Georgia Southern University, P.O. Box 8041, Statesboro, GA 30460, USA.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2013 Feb;142(2):251-8. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2012.12.001. Epub 2013 Jan 29.
We tested associative-based accounts of orientation by investigating the influence of environment size on the use of feature and geometric cues for reorientation. Two groups of participants were trained in dynamic three-dimensional virtual rectangular environments that differed in size to find a distinctly colored bin located at one of the four corners. Subsequently, we probed the reliance on feature and geometric cues for reorientation during test trials by presenting six trial types: Small Geometry Only, Large Geometry Only, Small Cue Conflict, Large Cue Conflict, Small Distal, and Large Distal. During Geometry Only test trials, all bins were black; thus, all distinctive featural information was removed leaving only geometric cues. For Cue Conflict test trials, all colored bins were shifted counter-clockwise one corner; thus, the geometric cues from the trained corner and the trained color were in direct conflict. During Distal test trials, the bin in the geometrically incorrect corner farthest from the trained corner was colored the same as during training; the remaining three bins were black. Thus, only this distant feature cue could be used to determine the location of the goal bin. Results suggested that geometric cues were used across changes in environment size, featural cues exerted greater influence when in conflict with geometric cues, and the far featural cue was used to disambiguate the correct from the rotationally equivalent location. In short, both feature and geometric cues were used for reorientation, and environment size influenced the relative use of feature and geometric cues. Collectively, our results provide evidence against associative-based accounts of orientation.
我们通过研究环境大小对重新定向时特征和几何线索使用的影响，来测试基于联想的定向理论。两组参与者在大小不同的动态三维虚拟矩形环境中接受训练，以找到位于四个角落之一的一个颜色独特的箱子。随后，我们通过呈现六种试验类型来探究在测试试验中重新定向时对特征和几何线索的依赖：仅小几何形状、仅大几何形状、小线索冲突、大线索冲突、小远端和大远端。在仅几何形状的测试试验中，所有箱子都是黑色的；因此，所有独特的特征信息都被去除，只留下几何线索。对于线索冲突测试试验，所有带颜色的箱子都逆时针移动了一个角落；因此，来自训练角落的几何线索和训练颜色直接冲突。在远端测试试验中，离训练角落最远的几何位置不正确的角落中的箱子颜色与训练时相同；其余三个箱子是黑色的。因此，只有这个远处的特征线索可用于确定目标箱子的位置。结果表明，几何线索在环境大小变化时都被使用，当特征线索与几何线索冲突时，其影响更大，并且远处的特征线索用于区分正确位置和旋转等效位置。简而言之，特征和几何线索都用于重新定向，并且环境大小影响了特征和几何线索的相对使用。总体而言，我们的结果提供了反对基于联想的定向理论的证据。
