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Specificity of Spatial Memories
When people learn about the locations of objects in a scene, what information gets represented in memory? For example, do people only remember what they saw, or do they commit more abstract information to memory? In two projects, we address these questions by examining how well people recognize perspectives of a scene that are similar but not identical to the views that they have learned. In a third project, we examine the reference frames that are used to code spatial information in memory. In a fourth project, we investigate whether the biases that people have in their memory for pictures also occur when they remember three-dimensional scenes.
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In some experiments, participants decide whether these are different scenes or the same scene from different perspectives.
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Nonvisual Egocentric Spatial Updating
When we walk through the environment, we realize that the objects we pass do not cease to exist just because they are out of sight (e.g. behind us). We stay oriented in this way because we spatially update (i.e., keep track of changes in our position and orientation relative to the environment.) Several SPACELAB projects investigate the processes that underlie spatial updating. One project investigates possible limitations on the number of objects that people can update. Another project examines differences between spatial updating of a well-learned, familiar environments and that in recently-learned immediate environments. A third project investigates the degree to which spatial updating results from processing low-level sensory information versus high-level cognitive information such as one's intentions to act.
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The Role of Landmarks in Learning Routes
A long-dominant theory of the development of spatial knowledge holds that learning a route is closely related to learning landmarks on the route. In a series of experiments conducted in a desktop virtual environment, we examine the role that landmarks play in route learning, and consider the different functions that landmarks can serve in this context. |
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Experiments test whether the function of landmarks (i.e. as beacons or associative cues) determines how quickly and accurately people learn routes.
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The Sensory Information Involved in Learning Spaces
We learn spaces not only by using visual information but also by using information from body-based senses (e.g., proprioceptive and vestibular information) that is generated when we move. Two projects investigate the relative contributions to spatial learning of vision and body-based senses. In these experiments, we control the degree to which visual and body-based information conflict and draw conclusions about how the different sources of information are used and integrated. |
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A participant learns about a large environment while wearing a head-mounted display. A video of what he sees is shown to another participant. |
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Virtual Reality Research
Several projects investigate how we can make real-time interactive computer-simulated environments (i.e., virtual environments) more effective and realistic. SpaceLab helps direct the world's largest immersive virtual environment, the HIVE. In one project, we examine ways to improve people's estimations of distances in virtual environments. Another project investigates whether the representation of the user's body (or body parts) in a virtual environment can improve task performance and one's sense of "presence" in the environment.
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Virtual environments are both a subject of investigation and a tool for conducting investigations.
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Lab Director: David Waller
SpaceLab, 234 Benton Hall, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056 (513) 529-4929
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