Is Surface-based Orientation Influenced by a Proportional Relationship of Shape Parameters?

Bradley R. Sturz, Kent D. Bodily

Research output: Contribution to conferencePresentation

Abstract

We investigated the extent to which parameters of environmental shape – namely the major and minor principal axes of space which pass through the centroid and approximate length and width of the entire space, respectively, were subject to similar psychophysical principles as those involved in distance discriminations. We developed an orientation task that allowed us to manipulate the ratio of the major to the minor principal axes of an enclosure during training and control for orientation by alternative cues other than principal axes such as wall lengths or corner angles during testing. Participants trained in an environment with a larger hypothetical discriminability ratio allocated more responses to locations specified by the principal axes of space across novel enclosure types compared to a group trained with a smaller hypothetical discriminability ratio. Results suggest that psychophysical principles may operate on the discrimination of environmental shape parameters and delineate a potential mechanism for experiential and developmental changes in orientation ability.
Original languageAmerican English
StatePublished - 2011
EventPaper presented to the Fall Meeting of the Comparative Cognition Society -
Duration: Jan 1 2011 → …

Conference

ConferencePaper presented to the Fall Meeting of the Comparative Cognition Society
Period01/1/11 → …

Keywords

  • environmental shape
  • orientation ability
  • principal axes
  • psychophysical principles

DC Disciplines

  • Cognition and Perception
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Psychology

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