Studies

This is a list of our research with adults.

Conflicting information

There has been significant research over the past few years using search tasks to examine what available spatial information (geometric information from the shape of the environment, and/or landmark information provided by items within the environment) human adults and children as well as many different animal species use when they reorient.  Reorientation is a useful tool because it allows a look at the navigation system as it resets itself, thus offering a relatively pure view of which information the system relies on most heavily.  Previous work with adults indicates that although they are highly sensitive to and most likely to use landmark information in their search behavior, their reliance on, and even their ability to use landmarks at all, can be disrupted with a distracter task. The current project was designed to follow up on a previous study in the lab investigating the possible independence of landmark and geometric information in adults by looking at their reaction times to a choice task in which the availability of landmarks and geometry will be varied.  Previous research indicates that geometric and landmark information are processed independently in rats, and this study will explore the possibility of that independence in humans.  The current study will be a training study where participants learn to respond relative to the location of a moving landmark on one trial type and the geometric properties of the figure on the other trial type.  Test trials will put the two pieces of information in conflict to see which one has a stronger pull on behavior.

Object search

Spatial navigation comprises a large number of abilities that are essential to survival.  The most complex of the spatial navigation systems is called place learning.  Place learning involves the use of multiple distant landmarks in the environment to uniquely specify a location.  It is a powerful system that allows an animal to find its way home from novel locations and find the platform hidden in a murky pool of water.  Directional learning is a less sophisticated system where the animal learns to move in a specific direction to find a desired object, but that location is more loosely specified.  This proposal is to look at solutions to a popular place learning task (Morris Water Maze) under conditions that require either directional learning or place learning to see if the developmental trajectory of these two navigational systems is different. The project involves a computer-based task with an aerial view of a room depicting a round circular arena housed within a large square room.  The circle represents the pool and the square room contains twelve pictures of animals that can be used for distal cues to navigate to the proper target location.  In the directional and place learning trials the circular arena will be arranged eight different but overlapping places in the larger rectangular space.  In the directional trials the target will move with the movements of the circular arena (thus maintaining its relative location within the pool) and for the place learning trials the absolute position of the target within the larger room will remain the same even as pool moves over trails (requiring true place learning).