Which way is the bookstore? A closer look at the judgments of relative directions task |
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| Authors: | Derek J Huffman Arne D Ekstrom |
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| Institution: | 1. Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA;2. Center for Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA;3. Psychology Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA |
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| Abstract: | We present a detailed analysis of a widely used assay in human spatial cognition, the judgments of relative direction (JRD) task. We conducted three experiments involving virtual navigation interspersed with the JRD task, and included confidence judgments and map drawing as additional metrics. We also present a technique for assessing the similarity of the cognitive representations underlying performance on the JRD and map-drawing tasks. Our results support the construct validity of the JRD task and its connection to allocentric representation. Additionally, we found that chance performance on the JRD task depends on the distribution of the angles of participants’ responses, rather than being constant and 90 degrees. Accordingly, we present a method for better determining chance performance. |
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| Keywords: | Cognitive map judgments of relative direction (JRD) map-drawing task map sketching group-level nonparametric permutation test |
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