An Investigation into Vertical Bias Effects

ABSTRACT

In three experiments, after exploring a virtual environment (VE), adult participants made spatial judgments about the location of target objects that were higher and lower than their perceived test location within the VE. In Experiment 1, the locations of the target objects were inferred from verbal instructions. The main results were a tendency to judge objects as closer to the horizontal plane than their true locations, and more efficient downward than upward judgments. Both effects generally accord with findings reported by Wilson et al. (2004a Wilson, P. N., Foreman, N., Stanton, D. and Duffy, H. 2004a. Memory for targets in a multilevel simulated environment: Evidence for vertical asymmetry in spatial memory. Memory & Cognition, 32: 283–297. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2004b Wilson, P. N., Foreman, N., Stanton, D. and Duffy, H. 2004b. Memory for targets in a multi-level simulated-environment: A comparison between able-bodied and physically disabled children. British Journal of Psychology, 95: 325–338.  [Google Scholar]). In Experiments 2 and 3, which were closely modeled on the design of the Wilson et al. studies, regression to the horizontal plane was noted but no downward bias was observed. A misperception in the viewing height between the floors and ceilings of the virtual rooms was apparent in both experiments. The results from the present study together with earlier investigations suggest different hierarchical encoding of between-axis and within-axis information.     

Environmental reference systems for large-scale spaces

Human navigation in well-known environments is guided by stored memory representations of spatial information. In three experiments (N = 43) we investigated the role of different spatial reference systems when accessing information about familiar objects at different locations in the city in which the participants lived. Our results indicate that two independent reference systems underly the retrieval of spatial knowledge. Environmental characteristics, e.g., the streets at an intersection, determine which headings are easier to imagine at a given location and lead to differences in accessibility of spatial information (orientation-specific behavior). In addition, access to spatial information depends on the relative direction of a location with respect to the imagined heading, such that information about locations imagined in front of oneself is easier to access than about locations towards the back. This influence of an egocentric reference system was found for environmental knowledge as well as map-based knowledge. In light of these reference system effects, position-dependent models of spatial memory for large-scale environments are discussed. To account for the simultaneous effect of an environmental and an egocentric reference system, we present a 2-level model of spatial memory access.     

受限航路空域自主航迹规划与冲突管理技术

为了解决在基于航迹运行的空中交通管理自动化系统中人机意识同步的问题，以航路运行为对象，开展了面向受限空域的自主四维航迹（4DT）冲突探测与解脱（CD&R）技术研究。基于自由航线空域（FRA）环境，提出基于栅格的空域离散化处理与计算方法；在此基础上，提出受限空域自主航迹运行两阶段方法：阶段1运用可视图（VG）法和Dijkstra算法，实现了满足限制区约束的航空器期望航迹快速规划；阶段2提出航迹可达时空域模型及其图形化表达方法，并基于连续飞行动力学推导出了不同情况下的航空器位置更新模型，并采用局部冲突探测与解脱方法，以飞行距离最短为目标，实现航空器自主路径与速度联动规划，从而支撑空地、人机认知同步的无冲突四维航迹生成；最后，以中国西部典型空域为运行场景开展仿真实验，验证了所提方法的计算高效性和模型有效性，并对栅格尺寸和探测距离这2个关键参数进行了灵敏度分析。结果表明，所提方法能够支撑复杂空域高密度运行环境自主航迹运行，为推动自主空中交通系统发展提供了新思路和新方法。     

大学英语词汇记忆的策略

研究大学生记忆英语词汇过程中单词遗忘率高的问题。通过元认知策略和认知策略等相关方法来记忆英语词汇,能够使学生在宏观上有意识地规划调整自己的学习,以保证在有限的时间内保质保量完成大学英语词汇的记忆。     

面向飞行员疲劳状态监测的脑认知深度模型研究

通过分析飞行员脑电信号，构建了疲劳状态的彩色脑功率图，设计基于高斯牛顿在线变分方法的卷 积神经网络参数优化方法，形成一种新型脑功率图深度网络模型，有效实现脑功率图深度网络的模型分类识别 能力。相比于其它基于脑电信号的疲劳检测深度模型，疲劳状态认知的准确度提升了3%~5%。     

Navigation in outdoor environments as an embodied,social, cultural,and situated experience: An empirical study of orienteering

This study investigated novices' “lived experiences” of navigation within the sport of orienteering from an enactive and phenomenological approach. The objective was to qualitatively characterize elements of task-related situations that were meaningful for orienteers. The results showed that the participants continuously made judgments about the reliability of their estimations about whether they were on “the right route” on the course. When the participants judged that they were only approximately on the right route or were unable to locate themselves, elements of the situation other than map and terrain features became meaningful for them. These results demonstrate that, for novice orienteers, navigation activity must extend beyond navigation as a logical, computational way-finding problem to include embodied, social, cultural and situated dimensions.     

Mental spatial transformations of objects and perspective

This study sought evidence for the independenceof two classes of mental spatialtransformation: object-based spatialtransformations and egocentric perspectivetransformations. Two tasks were designed toselectively elicit these two transformationsusing the same materials, participants, andtask parameters: one required same-differentjudgments about pairs of pictures, while theother required left-right judgments aboutsingle pictures. For pictures of human bodies,the two tasks showed strikingly differentpatterns of response time as a function ofstimulus orientation. Moreover, acrossindividuals, the two tasks had differentrelationships to psychometric tests of spatialability. The chronometric and individualdifference data converge withneuropsychological and neuroimaging data insuggesting that different mental spatialtransformations are performed by dissociableneural systems.     

A uniform anthropomorphological approach to the human conception of dimensional relations

Within psycholinguistics, the dimensional conception of space is described through a variety of theoretical constructs, e.g., frames of reference, perspectives, strategies, and patterns. The objective of this paper is to introduce a uniform classification of the alternatives of dimensionally conceiving of object relations, derived from the functional and morphological asymmetries of the human body which define an anthropomorphous Origo, and from our ability to mentally project the Origo into positions and orientations other than we actually occupy. Particularly, the conception of dimensional relations on the first horizontal line is explained through the principle of perceptual accessibility of objects; this allows for the uniform treatment of (almost) all conceptual alternatives from basic psychological principles. Finally, some implications of this anthropomorphological view for the human cognition of dimensional relations are discussed and underpinned with empirical results.     

Young Children's Perception of Diagrammatic Representations

Diagrams and pictorial representations are common in children's lives and require abstraction away from visual perception. In three experiments, we investigated 4- to 8-year-olds’ comprehension of such representations. In Experiment 1 (N = 80), children were shown photographs of geometric objects and asked to choose the corresponding line drawing from among sets of four, or vice versa. Results showed considerable developmental progression, especially around age 6. Experiment 2 (N = 16) ruled out that 4-year-olds’ difficulties were due to problems with the visual matching task itself. Experiment 3 (N = 32) showed comparable performance for matching diagrams to 3D objects rather than to photographs. Findings suggest increasing understanding of diagrammatic representations around the time of school entry.     

View makes a difference: Presenting human figures from the back or front affects mental spatial transformations of children and adults

Previous research suggested that performance in spatial judgments involving rotated human figures is poorer if these figures are presented from the front than from the back. We further investigated this effect, controlling for visible facial information in front and back view by presenting figures' faces as profile. Children's and adults' judgments were still faster and less error prone if figures were presented from the back. Moreover, reaction times indicated that participants did not mentally rotate figures in front view. Children performed overall more poorly than adults, but there were also qualitative differences suggesting that children are more susceptible to embodiment effects than adults. This study underlines that embodiment may have differential effects in spatial transformation tasks, enhancing or impairing performance.