Bock Otmar
German Sport University, 50927, Köln, Germany.
Exp Brain Res. 2025 Aug 31;243(9):202. doi: 10.1007/s00221-025-07136-2.
Previous research suggests that conventional multilevel buildings are cognitively represented as a stack of horizontal planes, whereas an atrium-shaped architecture which allows easy visual access to other levels is represented as a volume. The present study investigated whether easy physical access to other levels also promotes a volumetric representation. Participants were examined in a virtual 3D grid maze in which they could access higher and lower levels at each intersection. During a learning phase, they were transported through the maze across twelve intersection, each featuring a unique object. In the subsequent test phase, they were asked to indicate the location of these objects on a schematic drawing of the maze. Response accuracy in the test phase was similar when the twelve visited objects were arranged in a horizontal plane and when they were laid out in a volume. In accordance with earlier reasoning, this suggests that easy physical access to other levels indeed can facilitate a volumetric cognitive representation of multilevel architectures. Additional findings suggest that this representation emerged gradually rather than abruptly like a sudden insight, and that transport through the maze without left and right turns facilitated the internal representation, probably by reducing the associated cognitive load.
先前的研究表明，传统的多层建筑在认知上被表征为一系列水平平面的堆叠，而中庭式建筑由于能够轻松实现不同楼层之间的视觉通达，则被表征为一个立体空间。本研究调查了是否能够轻松实现不同楼层之间的实体通达也会促进立体空间表征。研究人员让参与者置身于一个虚拟的三维网格迷宫中，在每个交叉点他们都可以前往更高或更低的楼层。在学习阶段，他们被传送通过迷宫，经过十二个交叉点，每个交叉点都有一个独特的物体。在随后的测试阶段，他们被要求在迷宫的示意图上指出这些物体的位置。当十二个被访问的物体排列在一个水平平面上和排列在一个立体空间中时，测试阶段的反应准确率相似。与早期的推理一致，这表明能够轻松实现不同楼层之间的实体通达确实可以促进对多层建筑的立体空间认知表征。其他研究结果表明，这种表征是逐渐形成的，而不是像突然顿悟那样突然出现，并且在迷宫中直行而不转弯有助于内部表征的形成，这可能是通过减少相关的认知负荷实现的。
