Change blindness: eradication of gestalt strategies

Arrays of eight, texture-defined rectangles were used as stimuli in a one-shot change blindness (CB) task where there was a 50% chance that one rectangle would change orientation between two successive presentations separated by an interval. CB was eliminated by cueing the target rectangle in the first stimulus, reduced by cueing in the interval and unaffected by cueing in the second presentation. This supports the idea that a representation was formed that persisted through the interval before being 'overwritten' by the second presentation (Landman et al, 2003 Vision Research 43149–164]. Another possibility is that participants used some kind of grouping or Gestalt strategy. To test this we changed the spatial position of the rectangles in the second presentation by shifting them along imaginary spokes (by ±1 degree) emanating from the central fixation point. There was no significant difference seen in performance between this and the standard task [F(1,4)=2.565, p=0.185]. This may suggest two things: (i) Gestalt grouping is not used as a strategy in these tasks, and (ii) it gives further weight to the argument that objects may be stored and retrieved from a pre-attentional store during this task

The impact of 3D virtual environments with different levels of realism on route learning: a focus on age-based differences

With technological advancements, it has become notably easier to create virtual environments (VEs) depicting the real world with high fidelity and realism. These VEs offer some attractive use cases for navigation studies looking into spatial cognition. However, such photorealistic VEs, while attractive, may complicate the route learning process as they may overwhelm users with the amount of information they contain. Understanding how much and what kind of photorealistic information is relevant to people at which point on their route and while they are learning a route can help define how to design virtual environments that better support spatial learning. Among the users who may be overwhelmed by too much information, older adults represent a special interest group for two key reasons: 1) The number of people over 65 years old is expected to increase to 1.5 billion by 2050 (World Health Organization, 2011); 2) cognitive abilities decline as people age (Park et al., 2002). The ability to independently navigate in the real world is an important aspect of human well-being. This fact has many socio-economic implications, yet age-related cognitive decline creates difficulties for older people in learning their routes in unfamiliar environments, limiting their independence. This thesis takes a user-centered approach to the design of visualizations for assisting all people, and specifically older adults, in learning routes while navigating in a VE. Specifically, the objectives of this thesis are threefold, addressing the basic dimensions of: ❖ Visualization type as expressed by different levels of realism: Evaluate how much and what kind of photorealistic information should be depicted and where it should be represented within a VE in a navigational context. It proposes visualization design guidelines for the design of VEs that assist users in effectively encoding visuospatial information. ❖ Use context as expressed by route recall in short- and long-term: Identify the implications that different information types (visual, spatial, and visuospatial) have over short- and long-term route recall with the use of 3D VE designs varying in levels of realism. ❖ User characteristics as expressed by group differences related to aging, spatial abilities, and memory capacity: Better understand how visuospatial information is encoded and decoded by people in different age groups, and of different spatial and memory abilities, particularly while learning a route in 3D VE designs varying in levels of realism. In this project, the methodology used for investigating the topics outlined above was a set of controlled lab experiments nested within one. Within this experiment, participants’ recall accuracy for various visual, spatial, and visuospatial elements on the route was evaluated using three visualization types that varied in their amount of photorealism. These included an Abstract, a Realistic, and a Mixed VE (see Figure 2), for a number of route recall tasks relevant to navigation. The Mixed VE is termed “mixed” because it includes elements from both the Abstract and the Realistic VEs, balancing the amount of realism in a deliberate manner (elaborated in Section 3.5.2). This feature is developed within this thesis. The tested recall tasks were differentiated based on the type of information being assessed: visual, spatial, and visuospatial (elaborated in Section 3.6.1). These tasks were performed by the participants both immediately after experiencing a drive-through of a route in the three VEs and a week after that; thus, addressing short- and long-term memory, respectively. Participants were counterbalanced for their age, gender, and expertise while their spatial abilities and visuospatial memory capacity were controlled with standardized psychological tests. The results of the experiments highlight the importance of all three investigated dimensions for successful route learning with VEs. More specifically, statistically significant differences in participants’ recall accuracy were observed for: 1) the visualization type, highlighting the value of balancing the amount of photorealistic information presented in VEs while also demonstrating the positive and negative effects of abstraction and realism in VEs on route learning; 2) the recall type, highlighting nuances and peculiarities across the recall of visual, spatial, and visuospatial information in the short- and long-term; and, 3) the user characteristics, as expressed by age differences, but also by spatial abilities and visuospatial memory capacity, highlighting the importance of considering the user type, i.e., for whom the visualization is customized. The original and unique results identified from this work advance the knowledge in GIScience, particularly in geovisualization, from the perspective of the “cognitive design” of visualizations in two distinct ways: (i) understanding the effects that visual realism has—as presented in VEs—on route learning, specifically for people of different age groups and with different spatial abilities and memory capacity, and (ii) proposing empirically validated visualization design guidelines for the use of photorealism in VEs for efficient recall of visuospatial information during route learning, not only for shortterm but also for long-term recall in younger and older adults

Do doorways really matter : investigating memory benefits of event segmentation in a virtual learning environment

Event segmentation allows the flow of information experienced in life to be partitioned into distinct episodes, facilitating understanding of the world, action within it, and the ability to store information in memory. One basis on which experiences are segmented is the presence of physical boundaries, such as walking through doorways. Previous findings have shown that event segmentation has a significant influence on memory, with better memory for events occurring within a single boundary (compared to events that cross boundaries). By manipulating the features of boundaries and the amount of information presented between boundaries the present research investigates the nature of event boundaries. We make use of a virtual learning environment to present lists of words in virtual rooms, testing memory for the word lists as a function of the presence or absence of spatial-temporal gaps and physical boundaries during encoding (i.e., by maintaining participants within individual rooms or moving them through doorways between rooms). Across four experiments, we show that segmenting information with spatial-temporal gaps results in an increase in clustering (reflecting the structure imposed at encoding) an increase in the number of words remembered during later tests of episodic recall (a memory benefit) and an increase in recalling the words in the order of presentation. Importantly, however, the data show that the presence of doorways is not required for event segmentation to benefit memory: increases in clustering, memory for temporal order and recall performance were found with temporal gaps alone. Furthermore, the results suggest that episodic memory may be optimised if the amount of information between boundaries can be maintained within working memory. We discuss the implications of the findings for Event Segmentation Theory and propose an alternative theoretical account of the episodic memory benefits based on temporal clustering. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.]PostprintPeer reviewe

Using metacognitive monitoring feedback to improve student learning in augmented reality environments

This research aims to use metacognitive monitoring feedback to improve student learning performance in an augmented reality environment. In this study, Microsoft HoloLens, a prominent augmented reality device and independent mobile computer, provided a more realistic augmented reality environment to engineering students. The near field electromagnetic ranging system collected students' real-time location data when they experienced the augmented reality learning modules. In Phase 1, the study utilized one of the topics in the Ergonomic class, called manual material handling. The Phase 1 experiment results showed that retrospective confidence judgments in augmented reality modules could significantly influence the way students learn when the contents require a high level of spatial awareness during content learning. Therefore, Phase 2 research considered specific engineering education related to spatial recognition. For Phase 2, the location-based augmented reality system was developed to improve user interaction. The augmented reality learning module was biomechanics: one of the Ergonomic class problematic concepts to engineering students. This new location-based augmented reality system allowed students to immerse themselves in the studying process and improved student engagement of hands-on training in an augmented reality environment. Metacognitive monitoring feedback was another tool applied to improve students' learning performance. Student test scores, confidence level, answering time, and reviewing time were collected as metrics for performance assessment during the experiment. Overall, Phases 1 and 2 study outcomes advanced our understanding of students' interactions and the learning content in an augmented reality learning environment. This study also provided a guideline for how engineers need to develop valuable learning content in augmented reality 'environments. Furthermore, using a metacognitive monitoring feedback tool in an augmented reality learning environment is an effective strategy to improve students' academic performance and calibration.Includes bibliographical references (pages 93-108)

Effects of hyperlinks on navigation in virtual environments

Hyperlinks introduce discontinuities of movement to 3-D virtual environments (VEs). Nine independent attributes of hyperlinks are defined and their likely effects on navigation in VEs are discussed. Four experiments are described in which participants repeatedly navigated VEs that were either conventional (i.e. obeyed the laws of Euclidean space), or contained hyperlinks. Participants learned spatial knowledge slowly in both types of environment, echoing the findings of previous studies that used conventional VEs. The detrimental effects on participants' spatial knowledge of using hyperlinks for movement were reduced when a time-delay was introduced, but participants still developed less accurate knowledge than they did in the conventional VEs. Visual continuity had a greater influence on participants' rate of learning than continuity of movement, and participants were able to exploit hyperlinks that connected together disparate regions of a VE to reduce travel time

The Effects of a Multi-View Camera System on Spatial Cognition, Cognitive Workload and Performance in a Minimally Invasive Surgery Task

abstract: Minimally invasive surgery is a surgical technique that is known for its reduced patient recovery time. It is a surgical procedure done by using long reached tools and an endoscopic camera to operate on the body though small incisions made near the point of operation while viewing the live camera feed on a nearby display screen. Multiple camera views are used in various industries such as surveillance and professional gaming to allow users a spatial awareness advantage as to what is happening in the 3D space that is presented to them on 2D displays. The concept has not effectively broken into the medical industry yet. This thesis tests a multi-view camera system in which three cameras are inserted into a laparoscopic surgical training box along with two surgical instruments, to determine the system impact on spatial cognition, perceived cognitive workload, and the overall time needed to complete the task, compared to one camera viewing the traditional set up. The task is a non-medical task and is one of five typically used to train surgeons’ motor skills when initially learning minimally invasive surgical procedures. The task is a peg transfer and will be conducted by 30 people who are randomly assigned to one of two conditions; one display and three displays. The results indicated that when three displays were present the overall time initially using them to complete a task was slower; the task was perceived to be completed more easily and with less strain; and participants had a slightly higher performance rate.Dissertation/ThesisMasters Thesis Human Systems Engineering 201

Spatial cognition in virtual environments

Since the last decades of the past century, Virtual Reality (VR) has been developed also as a methodology in research, besides a set of helpful applications in medical field (trainings for surgeons, but also rehabilitation tools). In science, there is still no agreement if the use of this technology in research on cognitive processes allows us to generalize results found in a Virtual Environment (VE) to the human behavior or cognition in the real world. This happens because of a series of differences found in basic perceptual processes (for example, depth perception) suggest a big difference in visual environmental representation capabilities of Virtual scenarios. On the other side, in literature quite a lot of studies can be found, which give a proof of VEs reliability in more than one field (trainings and rehabilitation, but also in some research paradigms). The main aim of this thesis is to investigate if, and in which cases, these two different views can be integrated and shed a new light and insights on the use of VR in research. Through the many experiments conducted in the "Virtual Development and Training Center" of the Fraunhofer Institute in Magdeburg, we addressed both low-level spatial processes (within an "evaluation of distances paradigm") and high-level spatial cognition (using a navigation and visuospatial planning task, called "3D Maps"), trying to address, at the same time, also practical problems as, for example, the use of stereoscopy in VEs or the problem of "Simulator Sickness" during navigation in immersive VEs. The results obtained with our research fill some gaps in literature about spatial cognition in VR and allow us to suggest that the use of VEs in research is quite reliable, mainly if the investigated processes are from the higher level of complexity. In this case, in fact, human brain "adapts" pretty well even to a "new" reality like the one offered by the VR, providing of course a familiarization period and the possibility to interact with the environment; the behavior will then be “like if” the environment was real: what is strongly lacking, at the moment, is the possibility to give a completely multisensorial experience, which is a very important issue in order to get the best from this kind of “visualization” of an artificial world. From a low-level point of view, we can confirm what already found in literature, that there are some basic differences in how our visual system perceives important spatial cues as depth and relationships between objects, and, therefore, we cannot talk about "similar environments" talking about VR and reality. The idea that VR is a "different" reality, offering potentially unlimited possibilities of use, even overcoming some physical limits of the real world, in which this "new" reality can be acquired by our cognitive system just by interacting with it, is therefore discussed in the conclusions of this work

Spatial cognition in virtual environments

Since the last decades of the past century, Virtual Reality (VR) has been developed also as a methodology in research, besides a set of helpful applications in medical field (trainings for surgeons, but also rehabilitation tools). In science, there is still no agreement if the use of this technology in research on cognitive processes allows us to generalize results found in a Virtual Environment (VE) to the human behavior or cognition in the real world. This happens because of a series of differences found in basic perceptual processes (for example, depth perception) suggest a big difference in visual environmental representation capabilities of Virtual scenarios. On the other side, in literature quite a lot of studies can be found, which give a proof of VEs reliability in more than one field (trainings and rehabilitation, but also in some research paradigms). The main aim of this thesis is to investigate if, and in which cases, these two different views can be integrated and shed a new light and insights on the use of VR in research. Through the many experiments conducted in the "Virtual Development and Training Center" of the Fraunhofer Institute in Magdeburg, we addressed both low-level spatial processes (within an "evaluation of distances paradigm") and high-level spatial cognition (using a navigation and visuospatial planning task, called "3D Maps"), trying to address, at the same time, also practical problems as, for example, the use of stereoscopy in VEs or the problem of "Simulator Sickness" during navigation in immersive VEs. The results obtained with our research fill some gaps in literature about spatial cognition in VR and allow us to suggest that the use of VEs in research is quite reliable, mainly if the investigated processes are from the higher level of complexity. In this case, in fact, human brain "adapts" pretty well even to a "new" reality like the one offered by the VR, providing of course a familiarization period and the possibility to interact with the environment; the behavior will then be “like if” the environment was real: what is strongly lacking, at the moment, is the possibility to give a completely multisensorial experience, which is a very important issue in order to get the best from this kind of “visualization” of an artificial world. From a low-level point of view, we can confirm what already found in literature, that there are some basic differences in how our visual system perceives important spatial cues as depth and relationships between objects, and, therefore, we cannot talk about "similar environments" talking about VR and reality. The idea that VR is a "different" reality, offering potentially unlimited possibilities of use, even overcoming some physical limits of the real world, in which this "new" reality can be acquired by our cognitive system just by interacting with it, is therefore discussed in the conclusions of this work