Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance

Combining patient-lesion and big data approaches to reveal hippocampal contributions to spatial memory and navigation

Classic findings of impaired allocentric spatial learning and memory following hippocampal lesions indicate that the hippocampus supports cognitive maps of one's environment. Many studies assess navigation in vista space virtual reality environments and compare hippocampal-lesioned individuals' performance to that of small control samples, potentially stifling detection of preserved and impaired performance. Using the mobile app Sea Hero Quest, we examined navigation in diverse complex environments in two individuals with hippocampal lesions relative to demographically matched controls (N = 17,734). We found surprisingly accurate navigation in several environments, particularly those containing a constrained set of sub-goals, paths, and/or turns. Areas of impaired performance may reflect a role for the hippocampus in anterograde memory and more flexible and/or precise spatial representations, even when the need for allocentric processing is minimal. The results emphasize the value of combining single cases with big data and illustrate navigation performance profiles in individuals with hippocampal compromise.

Wayfinding in pairs: comparing the planning and navigation performance of dyads and individuals in a real-world environment

Navigation is essential to life, and it is cognitively complex, drawing on abilities such as prospective and situated planning, spatial memory, location recognition, and real-time decision-making. In many cases, day-to-day navigation is embedded in a social context where cognition and behavior are shaped by others, but the great majority of existing research in spatial cognition has focused on individuals. The two studies we report here contribute to our understanding of social wayfinding, assessing the performance of paired and individual navigators on a real-world wayfinding task in which they were instructed to minimize time and distance traveled. In the first study, we recruited 30 pairs of friends (familiar dyads); in the second, we recruited 30 solo participants (individuals). We compare the two studies to the results of an earlier study of 30 pairs of strangers (unfamiliar dyads). We draw out differences in performance with respect to spatial, social, and cognitive considerations. Of the three conditions, solo participants were least successful in reaching the destination accurately on their initial attempt. Friends traveled more efficiently than either strangers or individuals. Working with a partner also appeared to lend confidence to wayfinders: dyads of either familiarity type were more persistent than individuals in the navigation task, even after encountering challenges or making incorrect attempts. Route selection was additionally impacted by route complexity and unfamiliarity with the study area. Navigators explicitly used ease of remembering as a planning criterion, and the resulting differences in route complexity likely influenced success during enacted navigation.

The relationship between object-based spatial ability and virtual navigation performance

Spatial navigation is a multi-faceted behaviour drawing on many different aspects of cognition. Visuospatial abilities, such as mental rotation and visuospatial working memory, in particular, may be key factors. A range of tests have been developed to assess visuospatial processing and memory, but how such tests relate to navigation ability remains unclear. This understanding is important to advance tests of navigation for disease monitoring in various disorders (e.g., Alzheimer's disease) where spatial impairment is an early symptom. Here, we report the use of an established mobile gaming app, Sea Hero Quest (SHQ), as a measure of navigation ability in a sample of young, predominantly female university students (N = 78; 20; female = 74.3%; mean age = 20.33 years). We used three separate tests of navigation embedded in SHQ: wayfinding, path integration and spatial memory in a radial arm maze. In the same participants, we also collected measures of mental rotation (Mental Rotation Test), visuospatial processing (Design Organization Test) and visuospatial working memory (Digital Corsi). We found few strong correlations across our measures. Being good at wayfinding in a virtual navigation test does not mean an individual will also be good at path integration, have a superior memory in a radial arm maze, or rate themself as having a strong sense of direction. However, we observed that participants who were good in the wayfinding task of SHQ tended to perform well on the three visuospatial tasks examined here, and to also use a landmark strategy in the radial maze task. These findings help clarify the associations between different abilities involved in spatial navigation.

Early detection of diseases causing dementia using digital navigation and gait measures: A systematic review of evidence

Wearable digital technologies capable of measuring everyday behaviors could improve the early detection of dementia-causing diseases. We conducted two systematic reviews following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to establish the evidence base for measuring navigation and gait, two everyday behaviors affected early in AD and non-AD disorders and not adequately measured in current practice. PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched for studies on asymptomatic and early-stage symptomatic individuals at risk of dementia, with the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale used to assess bias and evaluate methodological quality. Of 316 navigation and 2086 gait records identified, 27 and 83, respectively, were included in the final sample. We highlight several measures that may identify at-risk individuals, whose quantifiability with different devices mitigates the risk of future technological obsolescence. Beyond navigation and gait, this review also provides the framework for evaluating the evidence base for future digital measures of behaviors considered for early disease detection.

Hippocampal subfield plasticity is associated with improved spatial memory

Physical exercise studies are generally underrepresented in young adulthood. Seventeen subjects were randomized into an intervention group (24.2 ± 3.9 years; 3 trainings/week) and 10 subjects into a passive control group (23.7 ± 4.2 years), over a duration of 6 months. Every two months, performance diagnostics, computerized spatial memory tests, and 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging were conducted. Here we find that the intervention group, compared to controls, showed increased cardiorespiratory fitness, spatial memory performance and subregional hippocampal volumes over time. Time-by-condition interactions occurred in right cornu ammonis 4 body and (trend only) dentate gyrus, left hippocampal tail and left subiculum. Increases in spatial memory performance correlated with hippocampal body volume changes and, subregionally, with left subicular volume changes. In conclusion, findings support earlier reports of exercise-induced subregional hippocampal volume changes. Such exercise-related plasticity may not only be of interest for young adults with clinical disorders of hippocampal function, but also for sedentary normal cohorts.

Assessing the impact of LEGO® construction training on spatial and mathematical skills

Lego construction ability is associated with a variety of spatial skills and mathematical outcomes. However, it is unknown whether these relations are causal. We aimed to establish the causal impact of Lego construction training on: Lego construction ability; a broad range of spatial skills; and on mathematical outcomes in 7-9-year-olds. We also aimed to identify how this causal impact differs for digital versus physical Lego construction training. One-hundred and ninety-eight children took part in a six-week training programme, delivered twice weekly as a school lunch time club. They completed either physical Lego training (N = 59), digital Lego training (N = 64), or an active control condition (crafts; N = 75). All children completed baseline and follow-up measures of spatial skills (disembedding, visuo-spatial working memory, spatial scaling, mental rotation, and performance on a spatial-numerical task, the number line task), mathematical outcomes (geometry, arithmetic, and overall mathematical skills) and Lego construction ability. Exploratory analyses revealed evidence for near transfer (Lego construction ability) and some evidence for far transfer (arithmetic) of Lego training, but overall transfer was limited. Despite this, we identified key areas for further development (explicit focus on spatial strategies, training for teachers, and embedding the programme within a mathematical context). The findings of this study can be used to inform future development of Lego construction training programmes to support mathematics learning.

Shorter self-reported sleep duration is associated with worse virtual spatial navigation performance in men

Sleep has been shown to impact navigation ability. However, it remains unclear how different sleep-related variables may be independently associated with spatial navigation performance, and as to whether gender may play a role in these associations. We used a mobile video game app, Sea Hero Quest (SHQ), to measure wayfinding ability in US-based participants. Wayfinding performance on SHQ has been shown to correlate with real-world wayfinding. Participants were asked to report their sleep duration, quality, daytime sleepiness and nap frequency and duration on a typical night (n = 766, 335 men, 431 women, mean age = 26.5 years, range = 18-59 years). A multiple linear regression was used to identify which self-reported sleep variables were independently associated with wayfinding performance. Shorter self-reported sleep durations were significantly associated with worse wayfinding performance in men only. Other self-reported sleep variables showed non-significant trends of association with wayfinding performance. When removing non-typical sleepers (< 6 or > 9 h of sleep on a typical night), the significant association between sleep duration and spatial navigation performance in men was no longer present. These findings from U.S.-based participants suggest that a longer self-reported sleep duration may be an important contributor to successful navigation ability in men.

Impoverished details with preserved gist in remote and recent spatial memory following hippocampal and fornix lesions

INTRODUCTION

Cognitive Map Theory predicts that the hippocampus (HPC) plays a specialized, time-invariant role in supporting allocentric spatial memory, while Standard Consolidation Theory makes the competing prediction that the HPC plays a time-limited role, with more remote memories gaining independence of HPC function. These theories, however, are largely informed by the results of laboratory-based tests that are unlikely to simulate the demands of representing real-world environments in humans. Validation of these theories is further limited by an overall focus on spatial memory of newly encountered environments and on individuals with extensive lesions to the HPC and to surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions. The current study incorporates naturalistic tests of spatial memory based on recently and remotely encountered environments navigated by individuals with lesions to the HPC/MTL or that are limited to the HPC's major output, the fornix.

METHODS

Four participants with bilateral HPC/MTL and/or fornix lesions drew sketch maps of recently and remotely experienced neighbourhoods and houses. Tests of the appearance, distances, and routes between landmarks from the same real-world environments were also administered. Performance on the tasks was compared to that of control participants closely matched in terms of exposure to the same neighbourhoods and home environments as well as to actual maps.

RESULTS

The performance of individuals with fornix/MTL lesions was found to be largely comparable to that of controls on objective tests of spatial memory, other than one case who was impaired on remote and recent conditions for several tasks. The nature of deficits in recent and remote spatial memory were further revealed on house floorplan drawings, which contained spatial distortions, room/structure transpositions, and omissions, and on neighbourhood sketch maps, which were intact in terms of overall layout but sparse in details such as landmarks.

CONCLUSION

Lab-based tests of spatial memory of newly learned environments are unlikely to fully capture patterns of spared and impaired representations of real-world environments (e.g., peripheral features, configurations). Naturalistic tasks, including generative drawing tasks, indicate that contrary to Cognitive Map Theory, neither HPC nor MTL are critical for allocentric gross representations of large-scale environments. Conversely, the HPC appears critical for representing detailed spatial information of local naturalistic environments and environmental objects regardless of the age of the memory, contrary to Standard Consolidation Theory.

Wayfinding across ocean and tundra: what traditional cultures teach us about navigation

Research on human navigation by psychologists and neuroscientists has come mainly from a limited range of environments and participants inhabiting western countries. By contrast, numerous anthropological accounts illustrate the diverse ways in which cultures adapt to their surrounding environment to navigate. Here, we provide an overview of these studies and relate them to cognitive science research. The diversity of cues in traditional navigation is much higher and multimodal compared with navigation experiments in the laboratory. It typically involves an integrated system of methods, drawing on a detailed understanding of the environmental cues, specific tools, and forms part of a broader cultural system. We highlight recent methodological developments for measuring navigation skill and modelling behaviour that will aid future research into how culture and environment shape human navigation.

Standard experimental paradigm designs and data exclusion practices in cognitive psychology can inadvertently introduce systematic "shadow" biases in participant samples

Standard cognitive psychology research practices can introduce inadvertent sampling biases that reduce the reliability and generalizability of the findings. Researchers commonly acknowledge and understand that any given study sample is not perfectly generalizable, especially when implementing typical experimental constraints (e.g., limiting recruitment to specific age ranges or to individuals with normal color vision). However, less obvious systematic sampling constraints, referred to here as "shadow" biases, can be unintentionally introduced and can easily go unnoticed. For example, many standard cognitive psychology study designs involve lengthy and tedious experiments with simple, repetitive stimuli. Such testing environments may 1) be aversive to some would-be participants (e.g., those high in certain neurodivergent symptoms) who may self-select not to enroll in such studies, or 2) contribute to participant attrition, both of which reduce the sample's representativeness. Likewise, standard performance-based data exclusion efforts (e.g., minimum accuracy or response time) or attention checks can systematically remove data from participants from subsets of the population (e.g., those low in conscientiousness). This commentary focuses on the theoretical and practical issues behind these non-obvious and often unacknowledged "shadow" biases, offers a simple illustration with real data as a proof of concept of how applying attention checks can systematically skew latent/hidden variables in the included population, and then discusses the broader implications with suggestions for how to manage and reduce, or at a minimum acknowledge, the problem.

No link between handedness and spatial navigation: evidence from over 400 000 participants in 41 countries

There is an active debate concerning the association of handedness and spatial ability. Past studies used small sample sizes. Determining the effect of handedness on spatial ability requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants and a navigation task with real-world validity. Here, we overcome these challenges via the mobile app Sea Hero Quest. We analysed the navigation performance from 422 772 participants from 41 countries and found no reliable evidence for any difference in spatial ability between left- and right-handers across all countries. A small but growing gap in performance appears for participants over 64 years old, with left-handers outperforming right-handers. Further analysis, however, suggests that this gap is most likely due to selection bias. Overall, our study clarifies the factors associated with spatial ability and shows that left-handedness is not associated with either a benefit or a deficit in spatial ability.

Induction of spatial anxiety in a virtual navigation environment

Spatial anxiety (i.e., feelings of apprehension and fear about navigating everyday environments) can adversely impact people's ability to reach desired locations and explore unfamiliar places. Prior research has either assessed spatial anxiety as an individual-difference variable or measured it as an outcome, but there are currently no experimental inductions to investigate its causal effects. To address this lacuna, we developed a novel protocol for inducing spatial anxiety within a virtual environment. Participants first learnt a route using directional arrows. Next, we removed the directional arrows and randomly assigned participants to navigate either the same route (n = 22; control condition) or a variation of this route in which we surreptitiously introduced unfamiliar paths and landmarks (n = 22; spatial-anxiety condition). The manipulation successfully induced transient (i.e., state-level) spatial anxiety and task stress but did not significantly reduce task enjoyment. Our findings lay the foundation for an experimental paradigm that will facilitate future work on the causal effects of spatial anxiety in navigational contexts. The experimental task is freely available via the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/uq4v7/ ).

Motivation moderates gender differences in navigation performance

Gender differences in navigation performance are a recurrent and controversial topic. Previous research suggests that men outperform women in navigation tasks and that men and women exhibit different navigation strategies. Here, we investigate whether motivation to complete the task moderates the relationship between navigation performance and gender. Participants learned the locations of landmarks in a novel virtual city. During learning, participants could trigger a top-down map that depicted their current position and the locations of the landmarks. During testing, participants were divided into control and treatment groups and were not allowed to consult the map. All participants were given 16 minutes to navigate to the landmarks, but those in the treatment group were monetarily penalized for every second they spent completing the task. Results revealed a negative relationship between physiological arousal and the time required to locate the landmarks. In addition, gender differences in strategy were found during learning, with women spending more time with the map and taking 40% longer than men to locate the landmarks. Interestingly, an interaction between gender and treatment group revealed that women in the control group required more time than men and women in the treatment group to retrieve the landmarks. During testing, women in the control group also took more circuitous routes compared to men in the control group and women in the treatment group. These results suggest that a concurrent and relevant stressor can motivate women to perform similarly to men, helping to diminish pervasive gender differences found in the navigation literature.

Research on digital tool in cognitive assessment: a bibliometric analysis

Objective

The number of research into new cognitive assessment tools has increased rapidly in recent years, sparking great interest among professionals. However, there is still little literature revealing the current status and future trends of digital technology use in cognitive assessment. The aim of this study was to summarize the development of digital cognitive assessment tools through the bibliometric method.

Methods

We carried out a comprehensive search in the Web of Science Core Collection to identify relevant papers published in English between January 1, 2003, and April 3, 2023. We used the subjects such as "digital," "computer," and "cognitive," and finally 13,244 related publications were collected. Then we conducted the bibliometric analysis by Bibliometrix" R-package, VOSviewer and CiteSpace software, revealing the prominent countries, authors, institutions, and journals.

Results

11,045 articles and 2,199 reviews were included in our analyzes. The number of annual publications in this field was rising rapidly. The results showed that the most productive countries, authors and institutions were primarily located in economically developed regions, especially the North American, European, and Australian countries. Research cooperation tended to occur in these areas as well. The application of digital technology in cognitive assessment appealed to growing attention during the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

Conclusion

Digital technology uses have had a great impact on cognitive assessment and health care. There have been substantial papers published in these areas in recent years. The findings of the study indicate the great potential of digital technology in cognitive assessment.

Cultural determinants of the gap between self-estimated navigation ability and wayfinding performance: evidence from 46 countries

Cognitive abilities can vary widely. Some people excel in certain skills, others struggle. However, not all those who describe themselves as gifted are. One possible influence on self-estimates is the surrounding culture. Some cultures may amplify self-assurance and others cultivate humility. Past research has shown that people in different countries can be grouped into a set of consistent cultural clusters with similar values and tendencies, such as attitudes to masculinity or individualism. Here we explored whether such cultural dimensions might relate to the extent to which populations in 46 countries overestimate or underestimate their cognitive abilities in the domain of spatial navigation. Using the Sea Hero Quest navigation test and a large sample (N = 383,187) we found cultural clusters of countries tend to be similar in how they self-rate ability relative to their actual performance. Across the world population sampled, higher self-ratings were associated with better performance. However, at the national level, higher self-ratings as a nation were not associated with better performance as a nation. Germanic and Near East countries were found to be most overconfident in their abilities and Nordic countries to be most under-confident in their abilities. Gender stereotypes may play a role in mediating this pattern, with larger national positive attitudes to male stereotyped roles (Hofstede's masculinity dimension) associated with a greater overconfidence in performance at the national level. We also replicate, with higher precision than prior studies, evidence that older men tend to overestimate their navigation skill more than other groups. These findings give insight into how culture and demographics may impact self-estimates of our abilities.

Entropy and a sub-group of geometric measures of paths predict the navigability of an environment

Despite extensive research on navigation, it remains unclear which features of an environment predict how difficult it will be to navigate. We analysed 478,170 trajectories from 10,626 participants who navigated 45 virtual environments in the research app-based game Sea Hero Quest. Virtual environments were designed to vary in a range of properties such as their layout, number of goals, visibility (varying fog) and map condition. We calculated 58 spatial measures grouped into four families: task-specific metrics, space syntax configurational metrics, space syntax geometric metrics, and general geometric metrics. We used Lasso, a variable selection method, to select the most predictive measures of navigation difficulty. Geometric features such as entropy, area of navigable space, number of rings and closeness centrality of path networks were among the most significant factors determining the navigational difficulty. By contrast a range of other measures did not predict difficulty, including measures of intelligibility. Unsurprisingly, other task-specific features (e.g. number of destinations) and fog also predicted navigation difficulty. These findings have implications for the study of spatial behaviour in ecological settings, as well as predicting human movements in different settings, such as complex buildings and transport networks and may aid the design of more navigable environments.

Landmark-dependent Navigation Strategy Declines across the Human Life-Span: Evidence from Over 37,000 Participants

Humans show a remarkable capacity to navigate various environments using different navigation strategies, and we know that strategy changes across the life span. However, this observation has been based on studies of small sample sizes. To this end, we used a mobile app-based video game (Sea Hero Quest) to test virtual navigation strategies and memory performance within a distinct radial arm maze level in over 37,000 participants. Players were presented with six pathways (three open and three closed) and were required to navigate to the three open pathways to collect a target. Next, all six pathways were made available and the player was required to visit the pathways that were previously unavailable. Both reference memory and working memory errors were calculated. Crucially, at the end of the level, the player was asked a multiple-choice question about how they found the targets (i.e., a counting-dependent strategy vs. a landmark-dependent strategy). As predicted from previous laboratory studies, we found the use of landmarks declined linearly with age. Those using landmark-based strategies also performed better on reference memory than those using a counting-based strategy. These results extend previous observations in the laboratory showing a decreased use of landmark-dependent strategies with age.

Machine Learning and Eye Movements Give Insights into Neurodegenerative Disease Mechanisms

Humans are a vision-dominated species; what we perceive depends on where we look. Therefore, eye movements (EMs) are essential to our interactions with the environment, and experimental findings show EMs are affected in neurodegenerative disorders (ND). This could be a reason for some cognitive and movement disorders in ND. Therefore, we aim to establish whether changes in EM-evoked responses can tell us about the progression of ND, such as Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's diseases (PD), in different stages. In the present review, we have analyzed the results of psychological, neurological, and EM (saccades, antisaccades, pursuit) tests to predict disease progression with machine learning (ML) methods. Thanks to ML algorithms, from the high-dimensional parameter space, we were able to find significant EM changes related to ND symptoms that gave us insights into ND mechanisms. The predictive algorithms described use various approaches, including granular computing, Naive Bayes, Decision Trees/Tables, logistic regression, C-/Linear SVC, KNC, and Random Forest. We demonstrated that EM is a robust biomarker for assessing symptom progression in PD and AD. There are navigation problems in 3D space in both diseases. Consequently, we investigated EM experiments in the virtual space and how they may help find neurodegeneration-related brain changes, e.g., related to place or/and orientation problems. In conclusion, EM parameters with clinical symptoms are powerful precision instruments that, in addition to their potential for predictions of ND progression with the help of ML, could be used to indicate the different preclinical stages of both diseases.

Wayfinding and path integration deficits detected using a virtual reality mobile app in patients with traumatic brain injury

The ability to navigate is supported by a wide network of brain areas which are particularly vulnerable to disruption brain injury, including traumatic brain injury (TBI). Wayfinding and the ability to orient back to the direction you have recently come (path integration) may likely be impacted in daily life but have so far not been tested with patients with TBI. Here, we assessed spatial navigation in thirty-eight participants, fifteen of whom had a history of TBI, and twenty-three control participants. Self-estimated spatial navigation ability was assessed using the Santa Barbara Sense of Direction (SBSOD) scale. No significant difference between TBI patients and a control group was identified. Rather, results indicated that both participant groups demonstrated 'good' self-inferred spatial navigational ability on the SBSOD scale. Objective navigation ability was tested via the virtual mobile app test Sea Hero Quest (SHQ), which has been shown to predict real-world navigation difficulties and assesses (a) wayfinding across several environments and (b) path integration. Compared to a sub-sample of 13 control participants, a matched subsample of 10 TBI patients demonstrated generally poorer performance on all wayfinding environments tested. Further analysis revealed that TBI participants consistently spent a shorter duration viewing a map prior to navigating to goals. Patients showed mixed performance on the path integration task, with poor performance evident when proximal cues were absent. Our results provide preliminary evidence that TBI impacts both wayfinding and, to some extent, path integration. The findings suggest long-lasting clinical difficulties experienced in TBI patients affect both wayfinding and to some degree path integration ability.

Building a Cognitive Science of Human Variation: Individual Differences in Spatial Navigation

The aim of this issue is to take stock of cognitive science of human variation in the field of spatial navigation, an important domain in which debates have often assumed an invariant human mind. Addressing the challenge of individual differences requires cognitive scientists to change their practices in several ways. First, we need to consider how to design measures and paradigms that have adequate psychometric characteristics. Second, using reliable, efficient, and valid measures, we need to examine how people vary from time to time, both in the short run due to emotions, such as stress or time pressure, and in the longer run, due to training or living in physical environments that require wayfinding skills. Third, we need to study people different from the traditional college participants, including variations in age, gender, education, culture, physical environment, and possible interactions among these variables.

Accelerated Cognitive Decline Associated With Hearing Loss and Bilateral Vestibulopathy: Insights From a Prospective Cross-Sectional Study Using the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Adjusted for the Hearing Impaired in the DFNA9 Population

BACKGROUND

DeaFNess Autosomal dominant 9 (DFNA9) is a hereditary disorder known to affect both hearing and vestibular function in its carriers. Its phenotype is characterized by progressive sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and vestibular dysfunction evolving towards bilateral vestibulopathy (BV) by the 3rd to 5th life decade. Recent studies have identified the impact of hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction on cognitive functioning.

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of this study was to investigate how the cognitive functioning of carriers of the p.Pro51Ser variant in the COCH gene is affected by the disease and compare these results with a matched healthy control group.

STUDY DESIGN

Forty-six carriers of the pathogenic p.Pro51Ser variant in the COCH gene were included in this study, of which 38 met the Bárány Society criteria and were thus diagnosed with BV. All subjects were between the age of 22 and 72 years old. Each control was individually matched based on age, gender, and education level. A cognitive, vestibular, and hearing assessment was performed in all subjects. All participants completed the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, adjusted for the Hearing Impaired (RBANS-H), a cognitive test battery that includes subtests probing Immediate and Delayed Memory, Visuospatial/Constructional, Language, and Attention.

RESULTS

Overall, the DFNA9 patients demonstrated significantly lower scores on the Immediate Memory subscale and lower Total Scale scores than their healthy matched controls. The total sample was divided into two groups: age <55 years old and age ≥55 years old. The DFNA9 group aged ≥55 years old obtained significantly lower scores on the Attention subscale and lower Total Scale scores than their matched controls. Cognition of DFNA9 patients aged <55 years old no longer differed significantly from their matched controls.

CONCLUSION

This cross-sectional study found that DFNA9 patients demonstrated cognitive deficits in comparison with their healthy matched controls. The DFNA9 group aged ≥ 55 years old obtained significantly lower scores on the Total Scale and Attention subscale. This finding; however, was not observed for the age group younger than 55 years old. Further research is needed on the individual trajectory of SNHL and vestibular function, and how hearing rehabilitation affects cognitive functioning.

Studying the Development of Navigation Using Virtual Environments

Research on spatial navigation is essential to understanding how mobile species adapt to their environments. Such research increasingly uses virtual environments (VEs) because, although VE has drawbacks, it allows for standardization of procedures, precision in measuring behaviors, ease in introducing variation, and cross-investigator comparability. Developmental researchers have used a wide range of VE testing methods, including desktop computers, gaming consoles, virtual reality, and phone applications. We survey the paradigms to guide researchers' choices, organizing them by their characteristics using a framework proposed by Girard (2022) in which navigation is reactive or deliberative, and may be tied to sensory input or not. This organization highlights what representations each paradigm indicates. VE tools have enriched our picture of the development of navigation, but much research remains to be done, e.g., determining retest reliability, comparing performance on different paradigms, validating performance against real-world behavior and open sharing. Reliable and valid assessments available on open-science repositories are essential for work on the development of navigation, its neural bases, and its implications for other cognitive domains.

Data science for pedestrian and high street retailing as a framework for advancing urban informatics to individual scales

BACKGROUND

In this paper, we consider the applicability of the customer journey framework from retailing as a driver for urban informatics at individual scales within urban science. The customer journey considers shopper experiences in the context of shopping paths, retail service spaces, and touch-points that draw them into contact. Around this framework, retailers have developed sophisticated data science for observation, identification, and measurement of customers in the context of their shopping behavior. This knowledge supports broad data-driven understanding of customer experiences in physical spaces, economic spaces of decision and choice, persuasive spaces of advertising and branding, and inter-personal spaces of customer-staff interaction.

METHOD

We review the literature on pedestrian and high street retailing, and on urban informatics. We investigate whether the customer journey could be usefully repurposed for urban applications. Specifically, we explore the potential use of the customer journey framework for producing new insight into pedestrian behavior, where a sort of empirical hyperopia has long abounded because data are always in short supply.

RESULTS

Our review addresses how the customer journey might be used as a structure for examining how urban walkers come into contact with the built environment, how people actively and passively sense and perceive ambient city life as they move, how pedestrians make sense of urban context, and how they use this knowledge to build cognition of city streetscapes. Each of these topics has relevance to walking studies specifically, but also to urban science more generally. We consider how retailing might reciprocally benefit from urban science perspectives, especially in extending the reach of retailers' insight beyond store walls, into the retail high streets from which they draw custom.

CONCLUSION

We conclude that a broad set of theoretical frameworks, data collection schemes, and analytical methodologies that have advanced retail data science closer and closer to individual-level acumen might be usefully applied to accomplish the same in urban informatics. However, we caution that differences between retailers' and urban scientists' viewpoints on privacy presents potential controversy.

Predicting real world spatial disorientation in Alzheimer's disease patients using virtual reality navigation tests

Spatial navigation impairments in Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been suggested to underlie patients experiencing spatial disorientation. Though many studies have highlighted navigation impairments for AD patients in virtual reality (VR) environments, the extent to which these impairments predict a patient's risk for spatial disorientation in the real world is still poorly understood. The aims of this study were to (a) investigate the spatial navigation abilities of AD patients in VR environments as well as in a real world community setting and (b) explore whether we could predict patients at a high risk for spatial disorientation in the community based on their VR navigation. Sixteen community-dwelling AD patients and 21 age/gender matched controls were assessed on their egocentric and allocentric navigation abilities in VR environments using the Virtual Supermarket Test (VST) and Sea Hero Quest (SHQ) as well as in the community using the Detour Navigation Test (DNT). When compared to controls, AD patients exhibited impairments on the VST, SHQ, and DNT. For patients, only SHQ wayfinding distance and wayfinding duration significantly predicted composite disorientation score on the DNT (β = 0.422, p = 0.034, R² = 0.299 and β = 0.357, p = 0.046, R² = 0.27 respectively). However, these same VR measures could not reliably predict which patients were at highest risk of spatial disorientation in the community (p > 0.1). Future studies should focus on developing VR-based tests which can predict AD patients at high risk of getting spatially disorientated in the real world.

Novel 3-D action video game mechanics reveal differentiable cognitive constructs in young players, but not in old

Video game research predominantly uses a “one game-one function” approach—researchers deploy a constellation of task-like minigames to span multiple domains or consider a complex video game to essentially represent one cognitive construct. To profile cognitive functioning in a more ecologically valid setting, we developed a novel 3-D action shooter video game explicitly designed to engage multiple cognitive domains. We compared gameplay data with results from a web-based cognitive battery (WebCNP) for 158 participants (aged 18–74). There were significant negative main effects on game performance from age and gender, even when controlling for prior video game exposure. Among younger players, game mechanics displayed significant and unique correlations to cognitive constructs such as aim accuracy with attention and stealth with abstract thinking within the same session. Among older players the relation between game components and cognitive domains was unclear. Findings suggest that while game mechanics within a single game can be deconstructed to correspond to existing cognitive metrics, how game mechanics are understood and utilized likely differs between the young and old. We argue that while complex games can be utilized to measure distinct cognitive functions, the translation scheme of gameplay to cognitive function should not be one-size-fits-all across all demographics.

Thalamo-hippocampal pathway regulates incidental memory capacity in mice

Incidental memory can be challenged by increasing either the retention delay or the memory load. The dorsal hippocampus (dHP) appears to help with both consolidation from short-term (STM) to long-term memory (LTM), and higher memory loads, but the mechanism is not fully understood. Here we find that female mice, despite having the same STM capacity of 6 objects and higher resistance to distraction in our different object recognition task (DOT), when tested over 1 h or 24 h delays appear to transfer to LTM only 4 objects, whereas male mice have an STM capacity of 6 objects in this task. In male mice the dHP shows greater activation (as measured by c-Fos expression), whereas female mice show greater activation of the ventral midline thalamus (VMT). Optogenetic inhibition of the VMT-dHP pathway during off-line memory consolidation enables 6-object LTM retention in females, while chemogenetic VMT-activation impairs it in males. Thus, removing or enhancing sub-cortical inhibitory control over the hippocampus leads to differences in incidental memory.

Incidental memory is affected by retention delay, and by memory load. Here the authors show that female and male mice process high memory load through different activation of thalamic-cortical pathways, that makes their incidental memory resistant to distraction and to memory decay, respectively.

Redesigning navigational aids using virtual global landmarks to improve spatial knowledge retrieval

Although beacon- and map-based spatial strategies are the default strategies for navigation activities, today's navigational aids mostly follow a beacon-based design where one is provided with turn-by-turn instructions. Recent research, however, shows that our reliance on these navigational aids is causing a decline in our spatial skills. We are processing less of our surrounding environment and relying too heavily on the instructions given. To reverse this decline, we need to engage more in map-based learning, which encourages the user to process and integrate spatial knowledge into a cognitive map built to benefit flexible and independent spatial navigation behaviour. In an attempt to curb our loss of skills, we proposed a navigation assistant to support map-based learning during active navigation. Called the virtual global landmark (VGL) system, this augmented reality (AR) system is based on the kinds of techniques used in traditional orienteering. Specifically, a notable landmark is always present in the user's sight, allowing the user to continuously compute where they are in relation to that specific location. The efficacy of the unit as a navigational aid was tested in an experiment with 27 students from the University of Technology Sydney via a comparison of brain dynamics and behaviour. From an analysis of behaviour and event-related spectral perturbation, we found that participants were encouraged to process more spatial information with a map-based strategy where a silhouette of the compass-like landmark was perpetually in view. As a result of this technique, they consistently navigated with greater efficiency and better accuracy.

Two Immersive Virtual Reality Tasks for the Assessment of Spatial Orientation in Older Adults with and Without Cognitive Impairment: Concurrent Validity, Group Comparison, and Accuracy Results

OBJECTIVE

Spatial disorientation is common in Alzheimer's disease (AD), Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), and preclinical individuals with AD biomarkers. However, traditional neuropsychological tests lack ecological validity for the assessment of spatial orientation and to date, there is still no gold standard. The current study aimed to determine the validity and accuracy of two virtual reality tasks for the assessment of spatial orientation.

METHODS

We adapted two spatial orientation tasks to immersive virtual environments: a "survey to route" task in which participants had to transfer information from a map to their body position within a maze [Spatial Orientation in Immersive Virtual Environment Test (SOIVET) Maze], and an allocentric-type, route learning task, with well-established topographic landmarks (SOIVET Route). A total of 19 MCI patients and 29 cognitively healthy older adults aged 61-92 participated in this study. Regular neuropsychological assessments were used for correlation analysis and participant performances were compared between groups. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed for accuracy.

RESULTS

The SOIVET Maze correlated with measures of visuoperception, mental rotation, and planning, and was not related to age, educational level, or technology use profile. The SOIVET Route immediate correlated with measures of mental rotation, memory, and visuoconstruction, and was influenced only by education. Both tasks significantly differentiated MCI and control groups, and demonstrated moderate accuracy for the MCI diagnosis.

CONCLUSION

Traditional neuropsychological assessment presents limitations and immersive environments allow for the reproduction of complex cognitive processes. The two immersive virtual reality tasks are valid tools for the assessment of spatial orientation and should be considered for cognitive assessments of older adults.

Entropy of city street networks linked to future spatial navigation ability

The cultural and geographical properties of the environment have been shown to deeply influence cognition and mental health^1-6. Living near green spaces has been found to be strongly beneficial^7-11, and urban residence has been associated with a higher risk of some psychiatric disorders^12-14-although some studies suggest that dense socioeconomic networks found in larger cities provide a buffer against depression¹⁵. However, how the environment in which one grew up affects later cognitive abilities remains poorly understood. Here we used a cognitive task embedded in a video game¹⁶ to measure non-verbal spatial navigation ability in 397,162 people from 38 countries across the world. Overall, we found that people who grew up outside cities were better at navigation. More specifically, people were better at navigating in environments that were topologically similar to where they grew up. Growing up in cities with a low street network entropy (for example, Chicago) led to better results at video game levels with a regular layout, whereas growing up outside cities or in cities with a higher street network entropy (for example, Prague) led to better results at more entropic video game levels. This provides evidence of the effect of the environment on human cognition on a global scale, and highlights the importance of urban design in human cognition and brain function.

London taxi drivers: A review of neurocognitive studies and an exploration of how they build their cognitive map of London

Licensed London taxi drivers have been found to show changes in the gray matter density of their hippocampus over the course of training and decades of navigation in London (UK). This has been linked to their learning and using of the "Knowledge of London," the names and layout of over 26,000 streets and thousands of points of interest in London. Here we review past behavioral and neuroimaging studies of London taxi drivers, covering the structural differences in hippocampal gray matter density and brain dynamics associated with navigating London. We examine the process by which they learn the layout of London, detailing the key learning steps: systematic study of maps, travel on selected overlapping routes, the mental visualization of places and the optimal use of subgoals. Our analysis provides the first map of the street network covered by the routes used to learn the network, allowing insight into where there are gaps in this network. The methods described could be widely applied to aid spatial learning in the general population and may provide insights for artificial intelligence systems to efficiently learn new environments.

Path integration in normal aging and Alzheimer's disease

In this review we discuss converging evidence from human and rodent research demonstrating how path integration (PI) is impaired in healthy aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD), and point to the neural mechanisms that underlie these deficits. Importantly, we highlight that (i) the grid cell network in the entorhinal cortex is crucial for PI in both humans and rodents, (ii) PI deficits are present in healthy aging and are significantly more pronounced in patients with early-stage AD, (iii) compromised entorhinal grid cell computations in healthy older adults and in young adults at risk of AD are linked to PI deficits, and (iv) PI and grid cell deficits may serve as sensitive markers for pathological decline in early AD.

Performance in Real World- and Virtual Reality-Based Spatial Navigation Tasks in Patients With Vestibular Dysfunction

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated whether vestibular dysfunction is associated with reduced spatial navigation performance.

STUDY DESIGN

Cross-sectional study.

SETTING

Otolaryngology Clinic in the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center and an analogous virtual reality (VR) environment.

PATIENTS

Eligible patients had diagnosis of unilateral or bilateral vestibular loss. Matched healthy controls were recruited at 1:1 ratio.

INTERVENTIONS

The navigation task involved a route-based or place-based strategy in both real world and VR environments.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Navigation performance was measured by distance travelled relative to optimal distance (i.e., path ratio) and the Judgments of Relative Direction (JRD) task, whereby participants had to recall relative angular distances between landmarks.

RESULTS

The study sample included 20 patients with vestibular loss (mean age: 61 yrs, SD: 10.2 yrs) and 20 matched controls (mean age: 60 yrs, SD: 10.4 yrs). Patients with vestibular loss travelled significantly greater distance using both route-based (path ratio 1.3 vs. 1.0, p = 0.02) and place-based (path ratio 2.6 vs. 2.0, p = 0.03) strategies in the real world. Overall, participants performed worse in virtual reality compared to real world in both path ratio (2.2 vs. 1.7; p = 0.04) and JRD error (78° vs. 67°; p < 0.01). Furthermore, while controls exhibited significant positive correlations between real world and VR performance in place-based (β = 0.75; p < 0.001) and JRD tasks (β = 0.70; p < 0.001), patients with vestibular loss exhibited no similar correlations.

CONCLUSIONS

The vestibular system appears to play a role in navigation ability during both actual and virtual navigation, suggesting a role for static vestibular signals in navigation performance.

Short Digital Spatial Memory Test Detects Impairment in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment

BACKGROUND

Impairment in navigation abilities and object location memory are often seen in early-stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD), yet these constructs are not included in standard neuropsychological assessment. We investigated the differential ability of a short digital spatial memory test in mild AD dementia and mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

METHODS

21 patients with AD dementia (66.9 ± 6.9; 47% female), 22 patients with MCI (69.6 ± 8.3; 46% female) and 21 patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) (62.2 ± 8.9; 48% female) from the Amsterdam Dementia Cohort performed the Object Location Memory Test (OLMT), consisting of a visual perception and memory trial, and the Virtual Tübingen (VT) test, consisting of a scene recognition, route continuation, route ordering and distance comparison task. The correlations with other cognitive domains were examined.

RESULTS

Patients with mild AD dementia (Z: -2.51 ± 1.15) and MCI (Z: -1.81 ± 0.92) performed worse than participants with SCD (Z: 0.0 ± 1.0) on the OLMT. Scene recognition and route continuation were equally impaired in patients with AD dementia (Z: -1.14 ± 0.73; Z: -1.44 ± 1.13) and MCI (Z: -1.37 ± 1.25; Z: -1.21 ± 1.07). Route ordering was only impaired in patients with MCI (Z: -0.82 ± 0.78). Weak to moderate correlations were found between route continuation and memory (r(64) = 0.40, p < 0.01), and between route ordering and attention (r(64) = 0.33, p < 0.01), but not for the OLMT.

CONCLUSION

A short digital spatial memory test battery was able to detect object location memory and navigation impairment in patients with mild AD dementia and MCI, highlighting the value of incorporating such a test battery in standard neuropsychological assessment.

Vector-based pedestrian navigation in cities

How do pedestrians choose their paths within city street networks? Researchers have tried to shed light on this matter through strictly controlled experiments, but an ultimate answer based on real-world mobility data is still lacking. Here, we analyze salient features of human path planning through a statistical analysis of a massive dataset of GPS traces, which reveals that (1) people increasingly deviate from the shortest path when the distance between origin and destination increases and (2) chosen paths are statistically different when origin and destination are swapped. We posit that direction to goal is a main driver of path planning and develop a vector-based navigation model; the resulting trajectories, which we have termed pointiest paths, are a statistically better predictor of human paths than a model based on minimizing distance with stochastic effects. Our findings generalize across two major US cities with different street networks, hinting to the fact that vector-based navigation might be a universal property of human path planning.

Overcoming navigational challenges: A novel approach to the study and assessment of topographical orientation

Several studies investigating environmental navigation require participants to navigate in virtual environments, in which the proprioceptive and vestibular components present during real environmental navigation are lost. Here, we aimed to provide a novel computerized ecological navigational battery, investigating whether the absence of proprioceptive and vestibular inputs yields a representation of the navigational space comparable to that acquired ecologically. In Study 1, 38 participants underwent two sets of tasks, one performed in a laboratory-based setting (LBS) and the other in an ecological environment (EE), with both including evaluation of route, landmark, and survey knowledge and a landmark ordering task. All tasks, except the route task, significantly correlated between EE and LBS. In LBS, performance in the landmark ordering task was predicted by that in the survey task, but not by those in the route and landmark tasks. Results of Study 1 were replicated in Study 2, in which 44 participants completed a modified and shorter online version of LBS tests. Reliability of the online LBS tests was also tested and showed a moderate-to-high internal consistency. Overall, results show that the conditions in which tasks are performed affect the acquisition of route knowledge, likely due to the lack of proprioceptive and vestibular information in LBS. However, LBS tasks presented here provide a standard battery of tests that can overcome the replicability problems encountered by ecological navigation tests, while taking into consideration all the complexities of navigational processes in terms of the use of landmark, route, and survey strategies.

Current advances in digital cognitive assessment for preclinical Alzheimer's disease

There is a pressing need to capture and track subtle cognitive change at the preclinical stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) rapidly, cost-effectively, and with high sensitivity. Concurrently, the landscape of digital cognitive assessment is rapidly evolving as technology advances, older adult tech-adoption increases, and external events (i.e., COVID-19) necessitate remote digital assessment. Here, we provide a snapshot review of the current state of digital cognitive assessment for preclinical AD including different device platforms/assessment approaches, levels of validation, and implementation challenges. We focus on articles, grants, and recent conference proceedings specifically querying the relationship between digital cognitive assessments and established biomarkers for preclinical AD (e.g., amyloid beta and tau) in clinically normal (CN) individuals. Several digital assessments were identified across platforms (e.g., digital pens, smartphones). Digital assessments varied by intended setting (e.g., remote vs. in-clinic), level of supervision (e.g., self vs. supervised), and device origin (personal vs. study-provided). At least 11 publications characterize digital cognitive assessment against AD biomarkers among CN. First available data demonstrate promising validity of this approach against both conventional assessment methods (moderate to large effect sizes) and relevant biomarkers (predominantly weak to moderate effect sizes). We discuss levels of validation and issues relating to usability, data quality, data protection, and attrition. While still in its infancy, digital cognitive assessment, especially when administered remotely, will undoubtedly play a major future role in screening for and tracking preclinical AD.

Virtual Morris water maze: opportunities and challenges

The ability to accurately recall locations and navigate our environment relies on multiple cognitive mechanisms. The behavioural and neural correlates of spatial navigation have been repeatedly examined using different types of mazes and tasks with animals. Accurate performances of many of these tasks have proven to depend on specific circuits and brain structures and some have become the standard test of memory in many disease models. With the introduction of virtual reality (VR) to neuroscience research, VR tasks have become a popular method of examining human spatial memory and navigation. However, the types of VR tasks used to examine navigation across laboratories appears to greatly differ, from open arena mazes and virtual towns to driving simulators. Here, we examined over 200 VR navigation papers, and found that the most popular task used is the virtual analogue of the Morris water maze (VWM). Although we highlight the many advantages of using the VWM task, there are also some major difficulties related to the widespread use of this behavioural method. Despite the task's popularity, we demonstrate an inconsistency of use - particularly with respect to the environmental setup and procedures. Using different versions of the virtual water maze makes replication of findings and comparison of results across researchers very difficult. We suggest the need for protocol and design standardisation, alongside other difficulties that need to be addressed, if the virtual water maze is to become the 'gold standard' for human spatial research similar to its animal counterpart.

Age-Related Changes in Spatial Navigation Are Evident by Midlife and Differ by Sex

Accumulating evidence suggests that distinct aspects of successful navigation-path integration, spatial-knowledge acquisition, and navigation strategies-change with advanced age. Yet few studies have established whether navigation deficits emerge early in the aging process (prior to age 65) or whether early age-related deficits vary by sex. Here, we probed healthy young adults (ages 18-28) and midlife adults (ages 43-61) on three essential aspects of navigation. We found, first, that path-integration ability shows negligible effects of sex or age. Second, robust sex differences in spatial-knowledge acquisition are observed not only in young adulthood but also, although with diminished effect, at midlife. Third, by midlife, men and women show decreased ability to acquire spatial knowledge and increased reliance on taking habitual paths. Together, our findings indicate that age-related changes in navigation ability and strategy are evident as early as midlife and that path-integration ability is spared, to some extent, in the transition from youth to middle age.

Citrus Polyphenols in Brain Health and Disease: Current Perspectives

In addition to essential micronutrients such as vitamin C, citrus fruits represent a considerably rich source of non-essential bioactive compounds, in particular flavanones which form a sub-set of the flavonoid group. Preclinical studies have demonstrated the neuroprotective potential of citrus flavonoids and have highlighted both the well-established (anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidative properties), and newly emerging (influence upon blood-brain barrier function/integrity) mechanistic actions by which these neurological effects are mediated. Encouragingly, results from human studies, although limited in number, appear to support this preclinical basis, with improvements in cognitive performance and disease risk observed across healthy and disease states. Therefore, citrus fruits - both as whole fruit and 100% juices - should be encouraged within the diet for their potential neurological benefit. In addition, there should be further exploration of citrus polyphenols to establish therapeutic efficacy, particularly in the context of well-designed human interventions.

Feasibility and acceptability of a multi-domain intervention to increase Mediterranean diet adherence and physical activity in older UK adults at risk of dementia: protocol for the MedEx-UK randomised controlled trial

INTRODUCTION

Dementia prevalence continues to increase, and effective interventions are needed to prevent, delay or slow its progression. Higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) and increased physical activity (PA) have been proposed as strategies to facilitate healthy brain ageing and reduce dementia risk. However, to date, there have been no dementia prevention trials in the UK focussed on combined dietary and PA interventions. This study aims to: (1) assess feasibility and acceptability of a theory-underpinned digital and group-based intervention for dementia risk reduction in an 'at risk' UK cohort; (2) evaluate behaviour change responses to the intervention; and, (3) provide information on cognitive, neurological, vascular and physiological outcomes to inform the design of a follow-on, full-scale efficacy trial.

METHODS

One hundred and eight participants aged 55 to 74 years with a QRISK2 score of ≥10% will be recruited to take part in this 24-week multi-site study. Participants will be randomised into three parallel arms: (1) Control; (2) MedDiet; and, (3) MedDiet+PA. The study will evaluate a personalised website, group session and food delivery intervention to increase MedDiet adherence and PA in older adults at risk of dementia. Diet and PA will be monitored prior to, during and following the intervention. Feasibility, acceptability and hypothesised mediators will be assessed in addition to measures of cognitive function, brain structure/perfusion (MRI), vascular function and metabolic markers (blood, urine and faecal) prior to, and following, the intervention.

DISCUSSION

This trial will provide insights into the feasibility, acceptability and mechanism of effect of a multi-domain intervention focussed on the MedDiet alone and PA for dementia risk reduction in an 'at risk' UK cohort.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study has received NHS REC and HRA approval (18/NI/0191). Findings will be disseminated via conference presentations, public lectures, and peer-reviewed publications.

TRIAL REGISTRATION DETAILS

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03673722.

Exploring the Spatial Relationships Between Real and Virtual Experiences: What Transfers and What Doesn't

Virtual environments are commonly used to assess spatial cognition in humans. For the past few decades, researchers have used virtual environments to investigate how people navigate, learn, and remember their surrounding environment. In combination with tools such as electroencephalogram, neuroimaging, and electrophysiology, these virtual environments have proven invaluable in their ability to help elucidate the underlying neural mechanisms of spatial learning and memory in humans. However, a critical assumption that is made whenever using virtual experiences is that the spatial abilities used in the navigation of these virtual environments accurately represents the spatial abilities used in the real-world. The aim of the current study is to investigate the spatial relationships between real and virtual environments to better understand how well the virtual experiences parallel the same experiences in the real-world. Here, we performed three independent experiments to examine whether spatial information about object location, environment layout, and navigation strategy transfers between parallel real-world and virtual-world experiences. We show that while general spatial information does transfer between real and virtual environments, there are several limitations of the virtual experience. Compared to the real-world, the use of information in the virtual-world is less flexible, especially when testing spatial memory from a novel location, and the way in which we navigate these experiences are different as the perceptual and proprioceptive feedback gained from the real-world experience can influence navigation strategy.

Age-related differences in visual encoding and response strategies contribute to spatial memory deficits

Successful navigation requires memorising and recognising the locations of objects across different perspectives. Although these abilities rely on hippocampal functioning, which is susceptible to degeneration in older adults, little is known about the effects of ageing on encoding and response strategies that are used to recognise spatial configurations. To investigate this, we asked young and older participants to encode the locations of objects in a virtual room shown as a picture on a computer screen. Participants were then shown a second picture of the same room taken from the same (0°) or a different perspective (45° or 135°) and had to judge whether the objects occupied the same or different locations. Overall, older adults had greater difficulty with the task than younger adults although the introduction of a perspective shift between encoding and testing impaired performance in both age groups. Diffusion modelling revealed that older adults adopted a more conservative response strategy, while the analysis of gaze patterns showed an age-related shift in visual-encoding strategies with older adults attending to more information when memorising the positions of objects in space. Overall, results suggest that ageing is associated with declines in spatial processing abilities, with older individuals shifting towards a more conservative decision style and relying more on encoding target object positions using room-based cues compared to younger adults, who focus more on encoding the spatial relationships among object clusters.

The Acquisition of Survey Knowledge by Individuals With Down Syndrome

People with Down syndrome often exhibit deficiencies in wayfinding activities, particularly route learning (e.g., Courbois et al., 2013; Davis et al., 2014; Farran et al., 2015). Evidence concerning more sophisticated survey learning has been sparse. In the research reported here, two experiments are reported that evaluated survey learning of youth with DS and typically developing children (TD) matched on mental age. In Experiment 1, participants learned two overlapping routes consisting of three turns each through a virtual environment depicting 9 square city blocks. Following acquisition, they were tested on multiple measures of survey knowledge: finding a shortcut, identifying the direction of landmarks not currently visible from their location in the environment, and recognizing a bird's-eye representation of the overall environment. Under these conditions, which should provide relatively optimal opportunities for survey learning, the participants with DS performed comparably to TD participants matched on non-verbal ability on all of our measures of survey learning. Hence, we concluded that people with DS can acquire some survey knowledge when tasked with learning a small environment and given the opportunity to do so. In Experiment 2, the experimenter navigated participants through a large, relatively complex, virtual environment along a circuitous path, beginning and ending at a target landmark. Then, the participants were placed at a pre-specified location in the environment that they had viewed previously and instructed to navigate to the same target (a door) using the shortest possible path from their current location. They completed the task three times: once after being shown the environment one time, once after three exposures, and once after five exposures. Results indicated that the participants with DS exhibited significantly less skill at identifying the shortcut than did the TD participants, with differences emerging as the number of exposures increased. Participants with DS were also less able to recall landmarks at the end of the experiment. Overall, however, the performance of both groups was relatively poor in both experiments - with the performance of participants with DS being worse as conditions became less optimal. These results were discussed in terms of underlying mechanisms that may account for variations in survey learning as environmental complexity increases.

Evidence for a unitary structure of spatial cognition beyond general intelligence

Performance in everyday spatial orientation tasks (e.g., map reading and navigation) has been considered functionally separate from performance on more abstract object-based spatial abilities (e.g., mental rotation and visualization). However, few studies have examined the link between spatial orientation and object-based spatial skills, and even fewer have done so including a wide range of spatial tests. To examine this issue and more generally to test the structure of spatial ability, we used a novel gamified battery to assess six tests of spatial orientation in a virtual environment and examined their association with ten object-based spatial tests, as well as their links to general cognitive ability (g). We further estimated the role of genetic and environmental factors in underlying variation and covariation in these spatial tests. Participants (N = 2660; aged 19-22) were part of the Twins Early Development Study. The six tests of spatial orientation clustered into a single 'Navigation' factor that was 64% heritable. Examining the structure of spatial ability across all 16 tests, three, substantially correlated, factors emerged: Navigation, Object Manipulation, and Visualization. These, in turn, loaded strongly onto a general factor of Spatial Ability, which was highly heritable (84%). A large portion (45%) of this high heritability was independent of g. The results point towards the existence of a common genetic network that supports all spatial abilities.

Impact of Learning Methods on Spatial Knowledge Acquisition

Research on the acquisition of spatial knowledge not only enriches our understanding of the theory of spatial knowledge representation but also creates practical value for the application of spatial knowledge. The aim of this study is to understand the impact of different learning methods on the acquisition of spatial knowledge, including the role of 2D maps, the difference between physical interaction and virtual interaction, and whether passive learning can replace active learning in virtual environments. One experiment was conducted, in which landmark knowledge and configurational knowledge were measured. Results indicate that 2D maps play a supporting role in acquiring both landmark knowledge and configurational knowledge. In addition, physical learning was associated with better spatial knowledge representation compared with virtual learning. An analysis of observational data in the third comparison found no significant difference between passive learning and active learning using virtual street view maps. However, with high-quality learning materials, passive learning can contribute to the acquisition of spatial knowledge more efficiently than active learning.