Buckley Matthew G, Smith Alastair D, Haselgrove Mark
School of Psychology.
J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn. 2016 Jan;42(1):51-66. doi: 10.1037/xan0000084. Epub 2015 Nov 16.
According to the geometric module hypothesis, organisms encode a global representation of the space in which they navigate, and this representation is not prone to interference from other cues. A number of studies, however, have shown that both human and non-human animals can navigate on the basis of local geometric cues provided by the shape of an environment. According to the model of spatial learning proposed by Miller and Shettleworth (2007, 2008), geometric cues compete for associative strength in the same manner as non-geometric cues do. The experiments reported here were designed to test if humans learn about local geometric cues in a manner consistent with the Miller-Shettleworth model. Experiment 1 replicated previous findings that humans transfer navigational behavior, based on local geometric cues, from a rectangle-shaped environment to a kite-shaped environment, and vice versa. In Experiments 2 and 3, it was observed that learning about non-geometric cues blocked, and were blocked by, learning about local geometric cues. The reciprocal blocking observed is consistent with associative theories of spatial learning; however, it is difficult to explain the observed effects with theories of global-shape encoding in their current form.
根据几何模块假说，生物体对其所处的导航空间进行整体表征，且这种表征不易受到其他线索的干扰。然而，多项研究表明，人类和非人类动物都能够基于环境形状所提供的局部几何线索进行导航。根据米勒和谢特沃思（2007年、2008年）提出的空间学习模型，几何线索与非几何线索一样，会竞争联想强度。此处报告的实验旨在测试人类是否以与米勒-谢特沃思模型一致的方式学习局部几何线索。实验1重复了之前的研究结果，即人类会将基于局部几何线索的导航行为从矩形环境转移到风筝形环境，反之亦然。在实验2和实验3中，研究人员观察到，对非几何线索的学习会阻碍对局部几何线索的学习，同时也会被对局部几何线索的学习所阻碍。观察到的这种相互阻碍现象与空间学习的联想理论相一致；然而，用当前形式的全局形状编码理论很难解释所观察到的这些效应。
