Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Encoding, learning, and spatial updating of multiple object locations specified by 3-D sound, spatial language, and vision

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Participants standing at an origin learned the distance and azimuth of target objects that were specified by 3-D sound, spatial language, or vision. We tested whether the ensuing target representations functioned equivalently across modalities for purposes of spatial updating. In experiment 1, participants localized targets by pointing to each and verbalizing its distance, both directly from the origin and at an indirect waypoint. In experiment 2, participants localized targets by walking to each directly from the origin and via an indirect waypoint. Spatial updating bias was estimated by the spatial-coordinate difference between indirect and direct localization; noise from updating was estimated by the difference in variability of localization. Learning rate and noise favored vision over the two auditory modalities. For all modalities, bias during updating tended to move targets forward, comparably so for three and five targets and for forward and rightward indirect-walking directions. Spatial language produced additional updating bias and noise from updating. Although spatial representations formed from language afford updating, they do not function entirely equivalently to those from intrinsically spatial modalities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.
Fig. 5.
Fig. 6.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amorim MA, Glasauer S, Corpinot K, Berthoz A (1997) Updating an object's orientation and location during nonvisual navigation: a comparison between two processing modes. Percept Psychophys 59:404–418

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Andersen RA (1999) Multimodal integration for the representation of space in the posterior parietal cortex. In: Burgess N, Jeffery KJ, O'Keefe J (eds) The hippocampal and parietal foundations of spatial cognition. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 90–103

  • Bachmann E, Perrig WJ (1988) Die mentale Repräsentation von verbalen Ortsbeschreibungen. Schweizerische. Z Psychol 47:25–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Beall AC, Blascovich J, Loomis JM (2001) PC-based immersive virtual environment technology as a behavioral science research tool. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Santa Barbara

  • Böök A, Gärling T (1981) Maintenance of orientation during locomotion in unfamiliar environments. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 7:995–1006

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bosco A, Filomena S, Sardone L, Scalisi TG, Longoni AM (1996) Spatial models derived from verbal descriptions of fictitious environments: the influence of study time and the individual differences in visuo-spatial ability. Psychol Beitr 38:451–464

    Google Scholar 

  • Farah MJ, Wong AG, Monheit MA, Morrow LA (1989) Parietal lobe mechanisms of spatial attention: modality-specific or supramodal? Neuropsychologia 27:461–470

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Farrell MJ, Thomson JA (1999) On-line updating of spatial information during locomotion without vision. J Mot Behav 3:39–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson EL, Hegarty M (1994) Properties of cognitive maps constructed from texts. Mem Cognit 22:455–473

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Francis WN, Kucera H (1982) Frequency analysis of English usage: lexicon and grammar. Houghton Mifflin, Boston

  • Franklin N, Tversky B (1990) Searching imagined environments. J Exp Psychol Gen 119:63–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Graziano MS, Gross CG (1998) Spatial maps for the control of movement. Curr Opin Neurobiol 8:195–201

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Graziano MS, Reiss LA, Gross CG (1999) A neuronal representation of the location of nearby sounds. Nature 397:428–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Haber L, Haber RN, Penningroth S, Novak K, Radgowski H (1993). Comparison of nine methods of indicating the direction to objects: data from blind adults. Perception 22:35–47

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klatzky RL, Lippa Y, Loomis JM, Golledge R G (2002) Learning directions of objects specified by vision, spatial audition, or auditory spatial language. Learn Mem (in press)

  • Loomis JM, Da Silva JA, Fujita N, Fukusima SS (1992) Visual space perception and visually directed action. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 18:906–921

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loomis JM, Klatzky RL, Philbeck JW, Golledge RG (1998) Assessing auditory distance perception using perceptually directed action. Percept Psychophys 60:966–980

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Loomis JM, Lippa Y, Klatzky RL, Golledge RG (2002) Spatial updating of locations specified by 3-D sound and spatial language. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 28:335–345

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Montello DR, Richardson AE, Hegarty M Provenza M (1999) A comparison of methods for estimating directions in egocentric space. Perception 28:981–1000

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ooi TL, Wu B, He ZJ (2001) Distance determined by the angular declination below the horizon. Nature 4:97–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Perrig W, Kintsch W (1985) Propositional and situational representations of text. J Mem Lang 24:503–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Philbeck JW, Loomis JM, Beall AC (1997) Visually perceived location is an invariant in the control of action. Percept Psychophys 59:601–612

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Philbeck JW, Klatzky RL, Behrmann M, Loomis JM, Goodridge J (2001) Active control of locomotion facilitates nonvisual navigation. J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 27:141–153

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Presson CC, Montello DR (1994) Updating after rotational and translational body movements: coordinate structure of perspective space. Perception 23:1447–1455

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieser JJ (1989) Access to knowledge of spatial structure at novel points of observation. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 15:1157–1165

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rieser JJ, Rider EA (1991) Young children's spatial orientation with respect to multiple targets when walking without vision. Dev Psychol 27:97–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor HA, Tversky B (1992) Descriptions and depictions of environments. Mem Cogn 20:483–496

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thomson JA (1983) Is continuous visual monitoring necessary in visually guided locomotion? J Exp Psychol Hum Percept Perform 9:427–443

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson WL, Kosslyn SM (1999) Neural systems activated during visual mental imagery. In: Toga AW, Mazziotta JC (eds) Brain mapping: the systems. Academic, San Diego, pp 535–560

  • Wang RF (1999) Representing a stable environment by egocentric updating and invariant representations. Spat Cogn Comput 1:431–445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang RF, Spelke ES (2000) Updating egocentric representations in human navigation. Cognition 77:215–250

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson PN, Tlauka M, Wildbur D (1999) Orientation specificity occurs in both small- and large-scale imagined routes presented as verbal descriptions. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn 25:664–679

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by National Eye Institute grant EY09740. A preliminary report of this work was reported at the 2001 Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society in Orlando, Florida. We thank Jerome Tietz for constructing the set up in experiment 2, Mike Kinsella for running participants in experiment 1, and Eyal Aharoni and Max Krasnow for helping to run participants in experiment 2. We also thank the reviewers.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA

    Roberta L. Klatzky

  2. Department of Psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

    Yvonne Lippa & Jack M. Loomis

  3. Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA

    Reginald G. Golledge

Authors
  1. Roberta L. Klatzky
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yvonne Lippa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jack M. Loomis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Reginald G. Golledge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roberta L. Klatzky.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Klatzky, R.L., Lippa, Y., Loomis, J.M. et al. Encoding, learning, and spatial updating of multiple object locations specified by 3-D sound, spatial language, and vision. Exp Brain Res 149, 48–61 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-002-1334-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-002-1334-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation