Adults' Visual Cue Preferences and Wayfinding Abilities in Healthcare Centers

OBJECTIVES

Physical and visual elements that help people find their way around an environment are called visual cues (VCs). The current study aims to evaluate adults' wayfinding abilities (navigation, orientation, spatial anxiety, and distance estimation) and VC (navigational color coding) preferences in terms of color and position; additionally, investigates their differences in adults' life span phases (young adults, early middle-aged adults, and late middle-aged adults).

BACKGROUND

Wayfinding in complex environments such as healthcare centers has been challenging for most people. Although VCs are being used increasingly to facilitate wayfinding, considering people's preferences regarding VCs, especially navigational color coding, are neglected.

METHODS

Obtained data from a survey of 375 healthcare center visitors with textual and photo questionnaires were analyzed by descriptive statics and one-way analysis of variance.

RESULTS

Young adults preferred VCs with "mixed colors and positioned in the middle of the floor," early middle-aged adults preferred "warm color VCs in the middle of the wall," and late middle-aged adults preferred "warm color VCs at the bottom of the wall." Additionally, the results demonstrated that with aging, navigation and distance estimation abilities deteriorate, and spatial anxiety increases.

CONCLUSIONS

The outcomes of the present study increase our knowledge regarding the impact of adults' life span phases on their wayfinding abilities and VC preferences and offer suggestions for architects and healthcare center stakeholders to provide environments that improve adults' wayfinding.

Use of Visual Information by Ant Species Occurring in Similar Urban Anthropogenic Environments

Many insects, including ants, are known to respond visually to conspicuous objects. In this study, we compared orientation in an arena containing only a black target beacon as local information in six species of ants of widely varying degree of phylogenic relatedness, foraging strategy, and eye morphology (Aphaenogaster, Brachyponera, Camponotus, Formica, and two Lasius spp.), often found associated in similar urban anthropogenic habitats. Four species of ants displayed orientation toward the beacon, with two orienting toward it directly, while the other two approached it via convoluted paths. The two remaining species did not show any orientation with respect to the beacon. The results did not correlate with morphological parameters of the visual systems and could not be fully interpreted in terms of the species' ecology, although convoluted paths are linked to higher significance of chemical signals. Beacon aiming was shown to be an innate behavior in visually naive Formica workers, which, however, were less strongly attracted to the beacon than older foragers. Thus, despite sharing the same habitats and supposedly having similar neural circuits, even a very simple stimulus-related behavior in the absence of other information can differ widely in ants but is likely an ancestral trait retained especially in species with smaller eyes. The comparative analysis of nervous systems opens the possibility of determining general features of circuits responsible for innate and possibly learned attraction toward particular stimuli.

Visuospatial Attention Allocation as an Indicator of Cognitive Deficit in Traumatic Brain Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is defined by changes in brain function resulting from external forces acting on the brain and is typically characterized by a host of physiological and functional changes such as cognitive deficits including attention problems. In the present study, we focused on the effect of TBI on the ability to allocate attention in vision (i.e., the use of endogenous and exogenous visual cues) by systematically reviewing previous literature on the topic. We conducted quantitative synthesis of 16 selected studies of visual attention following TBI, calculating 80 effect size estimates. The combined effect size was large (g = 0.79, p < 0.0001) with medium heterogeneity (I² = 68.39%). Subgroup analyses revealed an increase in deficit with moderate-to-severe and severe TBI as compared to mild TBI [F_{(2, 76)} = 24.14, p < 0.0001]. Task type was another key source of variability and subgroup analyses indicated that higher order attention processes were severely affected by TBI [F_{(2, 77)} = 5.66, p = 0.0051). Meta-regression analyses revealed significant improvement in visual attention deficit with time [p(mild) = 0.031, p(moderate-to-severe) = 0.002, p(severe) < 0.0001]. Taken together, these results demonstrate that visual attention is affected by TBI and that regular assessment of visual attention, using a systematic attention allocation task, may provide a useful clinical measure of cognitive impairment and change after TBI.

Visual Design Cues Impacting Food Choice: A Review and Future Research Agenda

This review aims to tackle the challenge of understanding how visual design cues can affect behavioural outcomes in a food context. The review answers two key questions: (1) What are the effects of the most important visual design cues on behavioural outcomes and how can they be explained? (2) What are the research gaps in this area? We start from a comprehensive taxonomy of visual design cues delineating the most important visual design cues. Next, we evaluate the extant research based on a structured, narrative literature review on visual design cues in the food domain. We differentiate between object processed and spatially processed visual design cues in food choice contexts and show how they affect behavioural outcomes through a range of psychological processes (attention, affective-, cognitive- and motivational reactions, food perceptions and attitudes). We end with recommendations which take into account the current food store context, the state-of-art in measuring psychological processes and behavioural outcomes and the specific food-, person- and context-related moderators. This review offers guidance for research to untangle the complexity of the effect of visual design cues in a food choice context.

A novel instrumented walker for individualized visual cue setting for gait training in patients with Parkinson's disease

Patients with Parkinson's disease suffer from gait disturbances, such as a shuffling and festinating gait, which reduces their quality of life. To circumvent this problem, external visual cues may be applied in gait training to maintain the integrity of motor function. However, conventional training methods, such as transverse lines stuck on the ground, are difficult to adjust and adapt to personalized gait ability. This study proposes a convenient instrumented wheel walker that provides gap adjustable visual cues and selectable projection modes onto the ground with and without motion relative to the user. Ten subjects with Parkinson's disease were recruited, and the efficacy of the proposed device for their gait training was assessed. We demonstrated the applicability of our device to address personalized demands in gait guidance. With a personalized setting for patients with Parkinson's disease, a significantly lengthened stride length may be achieved.

Random and Directed Movement by Warren Root Collar Weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Relative to Size and Distance of Host Lodgepole Pine Trees

Hylobius warreni Wood (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is a pest of conifers, especially lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Douglas ex Loudon) (Pinales: Pinaceae) in the Interior of British Columbia. The larvae feed on the roots and root collars and cause girdling damage, resulting in mortality or growth reductions. Previous research has suggested the adult weevils locate potential host trees by using random movements and vision, but likely not chemosensory cues. The purpose of this study is to determine if adult H. warreni respond to particular tree characteristics versus encounter potential hosts at random. Study A was a capture-mark-recapture experiment where weevils were captured on mature pine trees, while Study B was a tracking experiment within a young pine plantation. Weevils showed a preference for larger trees, and for trees that were closer to the weevil's last known location. In Study A, weevils also avoided climbing trees in poor health, while in Study B, the weevils' preference for taller trees increased as their distance from the weevil increased, as well as when taller trees were closer to other trees. Movement rates were similar to those observed in previous studies, were positively correlated with the average spacing of trees, and declined with time after release. This confirms previous findings that H. warreni may locate host trees by both vision and random movements, and that their movements are determined primarily by the size and distribution of potential host trees within their habitat.

Molecular Mechanisms of Pollination Biology

Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains from the stamens to the stigma, an essential requirement of sexual reproduction in flowering plants. Cross-pollination increases genetic diversity and is favored by selection in the majority of situations. Flowering plants have evolved a wide variety of traits that influence pollination success, including those involved in optimization of self-pollination, attraction of animal pollinators, and the effective use of wind pollination. In this review we discuss our current understanding of the molecular basis of the development and production of these various traits. We conclude that recent integration of molecular developmental studies with population genetic approaches is improving our understanding of how selection acts on key floral traits in taxonomically diverse species, and that further work in nonmodel systems promises to provide exciting insights in the years to come.

Behavioral Responses of Western Flower Thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) to Visual and Olfactory Cues at Short Distances

Western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), is a highly invasive pest, infesting many species of plants worldwide, but few studies have investigated the visual and olfactory cues associated with their foraging behaviors. In this study, the distance traveled by WFT to locate yellow cards using only visual cues and visual cues plus olfactory cues was studied first. Subsequently, preferences for colors (white, red, green, purple, yellow and blue) and patterns (triangle, rectangle, circle and flower-shape) over short distances were assessed with free-choice tests. Finally, as yellow was the most efficient color to catch WFT under laboratory conditions, the yellow flower-shape was used as the visual cue, and preferences between visual and olfactory cues were evaluated with dual choice tests. The results showed that the capture rate of WFT by visual cues decreased as selection distance increased, however capture rate remained higher with the addition of olfactory cues. The flower shape attracted the greatest number of WFT among all shapes tested. The combination of visual cues and extracted volatiles from flowering Medicago sativa L. attracted higher numbers of WFT than to the olfactory cues alone, however these were similar to visual cues alone. The presence of olfactory cues resulted in higher residence times by WFT than did the absence of olfactory cues. These results show the relative effects of visual and olfactory cues on the orientation of WFT to hosts and highlight that visual cues dominate selection behavior at short distances. These findings can be used in the development of efficient trapping products and management strategies for thrips.

Feeding in murky waters: acclimatization and landmarks improve foraging efficiency of zebrafish (Danio rerio) in turbid waters

Fish inhabiting human-dominated ecosystems are prone to altered sensory environments in which they must live and function. Increased turbidity is one such change that they must deal with. We tested whether an increase in water turbidity and the presence of visual landmarks (coloured stones) affect the foraging efficiency of wild zebrafish. We also tested the influence of extended exposure to differing turbidity levels on the subsequent foraging efficiency of acclimatized individuals. Feeding latency (time taken to find food) increased significantly with increase in turbidity levels from a minimum of 4 s to ca 300 s. However, extended exposure of fish to varying levels of turbidity decreased feeding latencies in acclimatized conditions, indicating that acclimatization to the immediate visual environment plays an important role in determining foraging success. Most significantly, we found that feeding latencies in turbid conditions decreased significantly if visual landmarks were present. This demonstrates that zebrafish use visual landmark cues to navigate to foraging sites when visibility is impaired. This study has important implications on the role of behavioural plasticity and spatial learning in animals that allow them to cope with altered sensory environments such as episodes of enhanced turbidity that could be natural or anthropogenic.

Virtual Footprints Can Improve Walking Performance in People With Parkinson's Disease

In Parkinson's disease (PD) self-directed movement, such as walking, is often found to be impaired while goal directed movement, such as catching a ball, stays relatively unaltered. This dichotomy is most clearly observed when sensory cueing techniques are used to deliver patterns of sound and/or light which in turn act as an external guide that improves gait performance. In this study we developed visual cues that could be presented in an immersive, interactive virtual reality (VR) environment. By controlling how the visual cues (black footprints) were presented, we created different forms of spatial and temporal information. By presenting the black footprints at a pre-specified distance apart we could recreate different step lengths (spatial cues) and by controlling when the black footprints changed color to red, we could convey information about the timing of the foot placement (temporal cues). A group of healthy controls (HC; N = 10) and a group of idiopathic PD patients (PD, N = 12) were asked to walk using visual cues that were tailored to their own gait performance [two spatial conditions (115% [N] and 130% [L] of an individual's baseline step length) and three different temporal conditions (spatial only condition [NT], 100 and 125% baseline step cadence)]. Both groups were found to be able to match their gait performance (step length and step cadence) to the information presented in all the visual cue conditions apart from the 125% step cadence conditions. In all conditions the PD group showed reduced levels of gait variability (p < 0.05) while the HC group did not decrease. For step velocity there was a significant increase in the temporal conditions, the spatial conditions and of the interaction between the two for both groups of participants (p < 0.05). The coefficient of variation of step length, cadence, and velocity were all significantly reduced for the PD group compared to the HC group. In conclusion, our results show how virtual footsteps presented in an immersive, interactive VR environment can significantly improve gait performance in participants with Parkinson's disease.

Interaction between path integration and visual orientation during the homing run of fiddler crabs

Foraging fiddler crabs form a strict spatial relationship between their current positions and burrows, allowing them to run directly back to their burrows when startled even without visual contacts. Path integration (PI), the underlying mechanism, is a universal navigation strategy through which animals continuously integrate directions and distances of their movements. However, we report that fiddler crabs also use visual orientation during homing runs using burrow entrances as cues, with the prioritised mechanism (i.e. PI or visual) determined by the distance (which has a threshold value) between the goal, indicated by PI, and the visual cue. When we imposed homing errors using fake entrances (visual cue) and masking their true burrows (goal of PI), we found that frightened fiddler crabs initially ran towards the true burrow following PI, then altered their behaviour depending on the distance between the fake entrance and masked true burrow: if the distance was large, they kept running until they reached the true burrow, ignoring the visual cue; however, if the distance was small, they altered the homing path and ran until they reached the fake entrance. This suggests that PI and visual mechanism in fiddler crabs are mutually mediated to achieve their homing behaviour.

Individual recognition and the 'face inversion effect' in medaka fish (Oryzias latipes)

Individual recognition (IR) is essential for maintaining various social interactions in a group, and face recognition is one of the most specialised cognitive abilities in IR. We used both a mating preference system and an electric shock conditioning experiment to test IR ability in medaka, and found that signals near the face are important. Medaka required more time to discriminate vertically inverted faces, but not horizontally shifted faces or inverted non-face objects. The ability may be comparable to the classic 'face inversion effect' in humans and some other mammals. Extra patterns added to the face also did not influence the IR. These findings suggest the possibility that the process of face recognition may differ from that used for other objects. The complex form of recognition may promote specific processing adaptations, although the mechanisms and neurological bases might differ in mammals and medaka. The ability to recognise other individuals is important for shaping animal societies.

Effect of Viewing Angle on Volume Perceptions for Paired Tumblers

This study examined how tumbler characteristics influenced the perception of volume at different viewing angles. Three tumbler characteristics were individually examined, namely, shape, size, and elongation. At four viewing angles (0°, 30°, 60°, and 90°), 50 participants poured a certain amount of liquid (150 or 200 mL) into a designated tumbler according to their perception. Results showed that tumbler size and elongation influenced volume perception. At viewing angles of 0° and 30°, the participants poured more liquid into short-wide tumblers than into tall-slender tumblers. At viewing angles of 60° and 90°, the results were opposite. The reason may be that the change of viewing angle made the participant’s sight cues from the container diameter more visible than those from the container height. Similar results were obtained for the pair of small and large tumblers. However, no effect of viewing angle on tumblers with different geometric shapes was observed. The contradictory results in comparison with those of previous studies may be related to viewing angle; in addition, the effect of viewing angle was also influenced by the characteristics of tumblers.

Retrosplenial Cortical Neurons Encode Navigational Cues, Trajectories and Reward Locations During Goal Directed Navigation

The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) plays an important role in memory and spatial navigation. It shares functional similarities with the hippocampus, including the presence of place fields and lesion-induced impairments in spatial navigation, and the RSC is an important source of visual-spatial input to the hippocampus. Recently, the RSC has been the target of intense scrutiny among investigators of human memory and navigation. fMRI and lesion data suggest an RSC role in the ability to use landmarks to navigate to goal locations. However, no direct neurophysiological evidence of encoding navigational cues has been reported so the specific RSC contribution to spatial cognition has been uncertain. To examine this, we trained rats on a T-maze task in which the reward location was explicitly cued by a flashing light and we recorded RSC neurons as the rats learned. We found that RSC neurons rapidly encoded the light cue. Additionally, RSC neurons encoded the reward and its location, and they showed distinct firing patterns along the left and right trajectories to the goal. These responses may provide key information for goal-directed navigation, and the loss of these signals may underlie navigational impairments in subjects with RSC damage.

Learned parasite avoidance is driven by host personality and resistance to infection in a fish-trematode interaction

Cognitive abilities related to the assessment of risk improve survival. While earlier studies have examined the ability of animals to learn to avoid predators, learned parasite avoidance has received little interest. In a series of behavioural trials with the trematode parasite Diplostomum pseudospathaceum, we asked whether sea trout (Salmo trutta trutta) hosts show associative learning in the context of parasitism and if so, whether learning capacity is related to the likelihood of infection mediated through host personality and resistance. We show that animals are capable of learning to avoid visual cues associated with the presence of parasites. However, avoidance behaviour ceased after the likely activation of host resistance following consecutive exposures during learning, suggesting that resistance to infection outweighs avoidance. Further, we found a positive relationship between learning ability and boldness, suggesting a compensation of risky lifestyles through increased investment in cognitive abilities. By contrast, an increased risk of infection due to low resistance was not balanced by learning ability. Instead, these traits were positively related, which may be explained by inherent physiological qualities controlling both traits. Overall, the results demonstrate that parasitism, in addition to other biological interactions such as predation, is an important selective factor in the evolution of animal cognition.

Acquisition of multiple prior distributions in tactile temporal order judgment

The Bayesian estimation theory proposes that the brain acquires the prior distribution of a task and integrates it with sensory signals to minimize the effect of sensory noise. Psychophysical studies have demonstrated that our brain actually implements Bayesian estimation in a variety of sensory-motor tasks. However, these studies only imposed one prior distribution on participants within a task period. In this study, we investigated the conditions that enable the acquisition of multiple prior distributions in temporal order judgment of two tactile stimuli across the hands. In Experiment 1, stimulation intervals were randomly selected from one of two prior distributions (biased to right hand earlier and biased to left hand earlier) in association with color cues (green and red, respectively). Although the acquisition of the two priors was not enabled by the color cues alone, it was significant when participants shifted their gaze (above or below) in response to the color cues. However, the acquisition of multiple priors was not significant when participants moved their mouths (opened or closed). In Experiment 2, the spatial cues (above and below) were used to identify which eye position or retinal cue position was crucial for the eye-movement-dependent acquisition of multiple priors in Experiment 1. The acquisition of the two priors was significant when participants moved their gaze to the cues (i.e., the cue positions on the retina were constant across the priors), as well as when participants did not shift their gazes (i.e., the cue positions on the retina changed according to the priors). Thus, both eye and retinal cue positions were effective in acquiring multiple priors. Based on previous neurophysiological reports, we discuss possible neural correlates that contribute to the acquisition of multiple priors.

Ability of bumblebees to discriminate differences in the shape of artificial flowers of Primula sieboldii (Primulaceae)

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Flower shapes are important visual cues for pollinators. However, the ability of pollinators to discriminate between flower shapes under natural conditions is poorly understood. This study focused on the diversity of flower shape in Primula sieboldii and investigated the ability of bumblebees to discriminate between flowers by combining computer graphics with a traditional behavioural experiment.

METHODS

Elliptic Fourier descriptors described shapes by transforming coordinate information for the contours into coefficients, and principal components analysis summarized these coefficients. Using these methods, artificial flowers were created based on the natural diversity of petal shape in P. sieboldii. Dual-choice tests were then performed to investigate the ability of the bumblebees to detect differences in the aspect ratio of petals and the depth of their head notch.

KEY RESULTS

The insects showed no significant ability to detect differences in the aspect ratio of the petals under natural conditions unless the morphological distance increased to an unrealistic level. These results suggest the existence of a perception threshold for distances in this parameter. The bumblebees showed a significant preference for narrow petals even after training using flowers with wide petals. The bumblebees showed a significant ability to discriminate based on the depth of the petal head notch after training using artificial flowers with a deep head notch. However, they showed no discrimination in tests with training using extreme distances between flowers in this parameter.

CONCLUSIONS

A new type of behavioural experiment was demonstrated using real variation in flower corolla shape in P. sieboldii. If the range in aspect ratios of petals expands much further, bumblebees may learn to exhibit selective behaviour. However, because discrimination by bumblebees under natural conditions was low, there may be no strong selective behaviour based on innate or learned preferences under natural conditions.

Neuronal signals in the monkey ventral striatum related to progress through a predictable series of trials

Single neurons in the ventral striatum of primates carry signals that are related to reward and motivation. When monkeys performed a task requiring one to three bar release trials to be completed successfully before a reward was given, they seemed more motivated as the rewarded trials approached; they responded more quickly and accurately. When the monkeys were cued as to the progress of the schedule, 89 out of 150 ventral striatal neurons responded in at least one part of the task: (1) at the onset of the visual cue, (2) near the time of bar release, and/or (3) near the time of reward delivery. When the cue signaled progress through the schedule, the neuronal activity was related to the progress through the schedule. For example, one large group of these neurons responded in the first trial of every schedule, another large group responded in trials other than the first of a schedule, and a third large group responded in the first trial of schedules longer than one. Thus, these neurons coded the state of the cue, i.e., the neurons carried the information about how the monkey was progressing through the task. The differential activity disappeared on the first trial after randomizing the relation of the cue to the schedule. Considering the anatomical loop structure that includes ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex, we suggest that the ventral striatum might be part of a circuit that supports keeping track of progress through learned behavioral sequences that, when successfully completed, lead to reward.