Biology subjects

Kuske, N.

Publications and source records attributed to Kuske, N..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Bodily Action Structures Spatial Representation: Evidence from Virtual Reality, Sensory Augmentation and Map Learning

Spatial relations can be defined with respect to the body (egocentric) or among environmental objects only (allocentric). Egocentric relations are necessarily transformed through bodily action. To what extent allocentric cognitive representations are shaped by the body remains unclear. In our study, participants navigate a virtual-reality (VR) city over multiple days in one of three embodiment conditions. In two VR conditions, the participants sit on a swivel chair actively changing navigation direction through bodily rotation. In one of these groups the VR participants wear a sensory augmentation belt which indicates the cardinal direction of north through vibration. The third group of participants navigates a two-dimensional map of the city. After each exploration session, participants complete tasks asking for allocentric spatial relations. We find that the performance in the spatial tasks interacts with the duration of exploration time and the embodiment condition. These findings indicate allocentric spatial representations to be structured by bodily action.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2020

Embodied Spatial Knowledge Acquisition in Immersive Virtual Reality: Comparison of Direct Experience and Map Exploration

Investigating spatial learning in virtual environments allows studying different sources of information under controlled conditions. We built a virtual environment in the style of a European village and investigated spatial knowledge acquisition by experience in the virtual environment and by the use of an interactive map. We tested knowledge of cardinal directions, building-to-building orientation, and judgment of direction between buildings. We find that judgment of directions was more accurate after virtual reality exploration than after map exploration, and the opposite results were observed for knowledge of cardinal directions and relative orientation between buildings. Further, the alignment effect was confined to the map exploration condition. Taken together, our results suggest that the source of spatial exploration differentially influenced spatial knowledge acquisition.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Learning of Spatial Properties of a Large-scale Virtual City with an Interactive Map

On the basis of embodied/-enacted theories of the mind, investigations of spatial cognition related to real world environments have become current research interests. How this perspective relates to acquiring spatial knowledge not by active exploration, but through map learning, however, remains unresolved. Therefore, we designed a large virtual city comprised of over 200 houses, suitable for active exploration or spatial learning based on a map. Here, we report our results after single and repeated 30-minute training sessions using an interactive city map. We tested subjects knowledge of the orientation of houses towards cardinal north and of two houses relative to each other and the locations of two houses towards each other in a pointing task. Our results revealed that a single training session was sufficient to repeatedly view the majority of houses covering a large area of the city. However, repeated training sessions were necessary to improve the performance level and reveal significant differences between tasks. In contrast to a previous study in a real world city, performance in the two orientation tasks was better than in the pointing task. The lack of distance and the lack of angular difference effects onto task performance suggest the use of a global reference frame. Performance was positively correlated with a self-report on spatial abilities (FRS) in the absolute orientation and pointing task but not the relative orientation task. Overall, our results suggest that training with an interactive city map enhances abstract knowledge, not directly available from an embodied perspective.

neuroscience↗