Weisberg Steven M, Newcombe Nora S
Department of Psychology, Temple University.
J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn. 2016 May;42(5):768-785. doi: 10.1037/xlm0000200. Epub 2015 Nov 23.
Research on the existence of cognitive maps and on the cognitive processes that support effective navigation has often focused on functioning across individuals. However, there are pronounced individual differences in navigation proficiency, which need to be explained and which can illuminate our understanding of cognitive maps and effective navigation. Using a virtual environment involving 2 routes (Virtual Silcton, a desktop virtual environment; Weisberg, Schinazi, Newcombe, Shipley, & Epstein, 2014), we divided people into 3 groups based on their within-route and between-route pointing accuracy: integrators, non-integrators, and imprecise navigators. In Study 1, we found that imprecise navigators have lower spatial and verbal working memory, which may limit their ability to build accurate within-route representations. We also found that integrators maintain excellent memories of buildings as categorized by route membership, possibly supporting the idea of hierarchical representations of the environment. In Study 2, we assessed preferences regarding place and route learning using a virtual version of the rodent T-maze (Marchette, Bakker, & Shelton, 2011). Integrators found more goals overall, and although they did not have an overall preference for a place-based strategy, integrators who did choose a place-based strategy found more goals. The opposite was true for imprecise navigators. In Study 3, we added a monetary incentive for accuracy to evaluate whether increased motivation leads to fewer participants classified as imprecise, but found no significant change in the distribution of performance. These data have theoretical implications for the cognitive map hypothesis, and practical implications for improving navigational functioning. A one-size-fits-all approach may fit none. (PsycINFO Database Record
关于认知地图的存在以及支持有效导航的认知过程的研究，通常聚焦于个体间的功能表现。然而，导航能力存在显著的个体差异，这需要得到解释，并且能够增进我们对认知地图和有效导航的理解。利用一个包含两条路线的虚拟环境（Virtual Silcton，一种桌面虚拟环境；韦斯伯格、希纳齐、纽科姆、希普利和爱泼斯坦，2014年），我们根据人们在路线内和路线间的指向准确性将其分为三组：整合者、非整合者和不准确导航者。在研究1中，我们发现不准确导航者的空间和言语工作记忆较低，这可能会限制他们构建准确的路线内表征的能力。我们还发现，整合者对按路线成员分类的建筑物有着出色的记忆，这可能支持了环境分层表征的观点。在研究2中，我们使用啮齿动物T型迷宫的虚拟版本（马尔切特、巴克尔和谢尔顿，2011年）评估了对地点和路线学习的偏好。整合者总体上找到的目标更多，尽管他们对基于地点的策略没有总体偏好，但选择基于地点策略的整合者找到的目标更多。不准确导航者的情况则相反。在研究3中，我们增加了对准确性的金钱奖励，以评估增加动机是否会导致被归类为不准确的参与者减少，但发现表现分布没有显著变化。这些数据对认知地图假设具有理论意义，对改善导航功能具有实际意义。一刀切的方法可能谁都不适用。（《心理学文摘数据库记录》
