{"title":"Cognitive Maps for a Non-Euclidean Environment: Path Integration and Spatial Memory on a Sphere.","authors":"Misun Kim, Christian F Doeller","doi":"10.1177/09567976241279291","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Humans build mental models of the world and utilize them for various cognitive tasks. The exact form of cognitive maps is not fully understood, especially for novel and complex environments beyond the flat Euclidean environment. To address this gap, we investigated <i>path integration</i>-a critical process underlying cognitive mapping-and spatial-memory capacity on the spherical (non-Euclidean) and planar (Euclidean) environments in young healthy adults (<i>N</i> = 20) using immersive virtual reality. We observed a strong Euclidean bias during the path-integration task on the spherical surface, even among participants who possessed knowledge of non-Euclidean geometry. Notably, despite this bias, participants demonstrated reasonable navigation ability on the sphere. This observation and simulation suggest that humans navigate nonflat surfaces by constructing locally confined Euclidean maps and flexibly combining them. This insight sheds light on potential neural mechanisms and behavioral strategies for solving complex cognitive tasks.</p>","PeriodicalId":20745,"journal":{"name":"Psychological Science","volume":" ","pages":"1217-1230"},"PeriodicalIF":4.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Psychological Science","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976241279291","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/10/25 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Humans build mental models of the world and utilize them for various cognitive tasks. The exact form of cognitive maps is not fully understood, especially for novel and complex environments beyond the flat Euclidean environment. To address this gap, we investigated path integration-a critical process underlying cognitive mapping-and spatial-memory capacity on the spherical (non-Euclidean) and planar (Euclidean) environments in young healthy adults (N = 20) using immersive virtual reality. We observed a strong Euclidean bias during the path-integration task on the spherical surface, even among participants who possessed knowledge of non-Euclidean geometry. Notably, despite this bias, participants demonstrated reasonable navigation ability on the sphere. This observation and simulation suggest that humans navigate nonflat surfaces by constructing locally confined Euclidean maps and flexibly combining them. This insight sheds light on potential neural mechanisms and behavioral strategies for solving complex cognitive tasks.
期刊介绍:
Psychological Science, the flagship journal of The Association for Psychological Science (previously the American Psychological Society), is a leading publication in the field with a citation ranking/impact factor among the top ten worldwide. It publishes authoritative articles covering various domains of psychological science, including brain and behavior, clinical science, cognition, learning and memory, social psychology, and developmental psychology. In addition to full-length articles, the journal features summaries of new research developments and discussions on psychological issues in government and public affairs. "Psychological Science" is published twelve times annually.