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Memory for Salient Landmarks: Empirical Findings and a Cognitive Model

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Spatial Cognition XI (Spatial Cognition 2018)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 11034))

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Abstract

We test the effect of a landmark’s visual and structural salience on memory retrieval of turning directions at choice points in a VR environment. We find a higher probability for a correct turning decision at intersections where the location of the visually salient landmark converges with the turning direction as compared to intersections where the location of the visually salient landmark diverges from the turning direction. Although altered versions of the intersections were mostly recognized as being novel, we found systematic error patterns depending on the placement in the original intersection. A cognitive model in the ACT-R architecture grounds these findings in an established framework of human memory. Our findings have implications, for example, for the selection of suitable landmarks for navigation assistance systems.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Alkaike Information Criterion [1].

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Acknowledgements

We thank Benedikt Solf for collecting the data and his idea of including foil blocks and Karoline Greger for implementing the SQUARELAND ACT-R environment.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Economic Psychology, University of Basel, Missionsstrasse 62a, 4055, Basel, Switzerland

    Rebecca Albrecht

  2. Center for Cognitive Science, University of Freiburg, Hebelstraße 10, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

    Rul von Stuelpnagel

Authors
  1. Rebecca Albrecht
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  2. Rul von Stuelpnagel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Albrecht .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA

    Sarah Creem-Regehr

  2. University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Johannes Schöning

  3. Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Alexander Klippel

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Albrecht, R., von Stuelpnagel, R. (2018). Memory for Salient Landmarks: Empirical Findings and a Cognitive Model. In: Creem-Regehr, S., Schöning, J., Klippel, A. (eds) Spatial Cognition XI. Spatial Cognition 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 11034. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96385-3_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96385-3_21

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-96384-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-96385-3

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