Orti Renato, Iachini Tina, D'Agostino Eleonora, Ruotolo Francesco, Ruggiero Gennaro
Laboratory of Cognitive Science and Immersive Virtual Reality, CS-IVR, Department of Psychology, University of Campania L. Vanvitelli, Viale Ellittico, 31, 81100, Caserta, Italy.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 21;15(1):26451. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-11122-7.
Every day we combine and switch between body-centered (egocentric) and object-centered (allocentric) spatial representations. Several studies so far have reported a greater difficulty to switch from an allocentric reference frame to an egocentric one than vice-versa. To clarify this effect, the present work measured the cognitive load underlying switching vs. non-switching processes between reference frames through cognitive pupillometry. Participants performed a custom-designed visuo-spatial memory task, while pupil dilation variations were measured with eye-tracking. After memorizing triads of objects, participants provided judgments of relative distance in non-switching (only-egocentric, only-allocentric) and switching (from-ego-to-allo, from-allo-to-ego) conditions. The results showed a larger pupil dilation in switching judgments from-allocentric-to-egocentric reference frames than from-egocentric-to-allocentric ones. Moreover, pupil evoked-responses were also larger in allocentric- than egocentric-based non-switching conditions. Overall, the results showed that, for both non-switching and switching visuo-spatial processes, starting from an allocentric-based representation elicits a higher cognitive load than starting from an egocentric-based one. Thus, the disproportional effort in visuo-spatial switching processes seems to be determined by the first reference frame adopted that, in turn, contaminates also the following one.
我们每天都会在以身体为中心（自我中心）和以物体为中心（异我中心）的空间表征之间进行组合和切换。到目前为止，几项研究报告称，从异我中心参照系切换到自我中心参照系比反过来切换更困难。为了阐明这种效应，本研究通过认知瞳孔测量法测量了参照系之间切换与非切换过程背后的认知负荷。参与者执行了一项定制设计的视觉空间记忆任务，同时通过眼动追踪测量瞳孔扩张变化。在记住物体三元组后，参与者在非切换（仅自我中心、仅异我中心）和切换（从自我中心到异我中心、从异我中心到自我中心）条件下提供相对距离判断。结果显示，从异我中心参照系切换到自我中心参照系的判断中，瞳孔扩张幅度大于从自我中心参照系切换到异我中心参照系的判断。此外，在基于异我中心而非自我中心的非切换条件下，瞳孔诱发反应也更大。总体而言，结果表明，对于非切换和切换的视觉空间过程，从基于异我中心的表征开始比从基于自我中心的表征开始会引发更高的认知负荷。因此，视觉空间切换过程中不成比例的努力似乎取决于所采用的第一个参照系，而这个参照系反过来也会影响随后的参照系。
