The Influence Of Landmarks On Geometric Information In Spatial Reorientation Tasks

Reorienting paradigm is often used to study the reorienting ability of animals or human individuals,who use two kinds of cues in the process of spatial orientation and memory: geometric and non-geometric cues.Geometric cues refers to the shape and angles of the room,while non-geometric cues includes the color,texture feature,smell of the boundary and landmarks.The mechanism of cues interaction in spatial navigation and reorientation remained to be determined.On the basis of previous studies,this study focuses on the influence of landmarks and their location on geometric cues in the reorientation task,and intends to explore the mechanism of adults' virtual closed spatial learning.The study consisted of two experiments.In experiment 1,a 2(landmarks)× 2(signal zones)mixed experimental design was adopted,landmarks distinguishability as between-groups factors,signal zones as the within-group factors,the participants entered test phase after learning and disorientation,the results showed that the distinguishable landmarks group had shorter reaction times than homogeneous group at relying on space's geometry to localize disappeared target.In experiment 2,a 2(landmarks accessibility)× 2(signal zones)mixed experiment design was adopted,accessibility of landmarks as between-groups factors,signal zones as the within-group factors,the participants entered test phase after learning and disorientation,the results showed that the proximal landmarks group in test phase had shorter reaction times than distal landmarks group at relying on space's geometry to localize disappeared target.Both groups in two experiments had shorter reaction times in signal zones than no-signal zones.Conclusions are as follows:(1)Distinguishable landmarks enhance adults' processing of geometry and representation of geometric memory compared with homogeneous landmarks;(2)Compared with the distal landmark,the proximal landmark plays a greater role in potentiating the geometry encoding and representation of the space's memory in adults.