Testing the acquisition and use of navigation strategies in humans using a virtual environment

Abstract

Testing the acquisition and use of navigation strategies in humans using a virtual environment Navigation is the area of spatial cognition related to how people move through space. Agents represent this space using reference frames fixed relative to the agent (egocentric) or the environment (allocentric). Research into how reference frames are used and interact has revealed many variables that can affect navigation. The thesis aim was to assess some of these variables and observe the important, modulatory roles of environment structure and complexity. For this a virtual Morris water maze analogue was designed to flexibly assess allocentric, intrinsic information-based and sequential response-based navigation. This research focussed on four facets of the interaction between environment and navigation: 1) How different reference systems knowledge develops over time in an environment; 2) What information drives improvements in navigation; 3) How reference systems interact when they suggest competing responses; 4) The relationship between the preceding points and environmental complexity. The results showed successful allocentric navigation after little training. Successful self-referential knowledge took longer to develop. Allocentric knowledge was centred on landmarks, overshadowing other cues, while egocentric knowledge was idiothetic. Conflict tests showed a strong preference for allocentric navigation that related to training maze complexity. A simpler training maze produced more egocentric navigators with relatively accurate route knowledge. These results provide further evidence for the multiple types of spatial navigation information that can be acquired and utilised, and demonstrate the importance of consideration of environment design for navigation research. The strong correspondence between these results and the real world navigation of human and non-human animals also suggest this virtual reality setup as a promising way to assess navigation in future.