title: Path information effects in visual and proprioceptive spatial learning.
abstract: Objects in an environment are often encountered sequentially during spatial learning, forming a path along which object locations are experienced. The present study investigated the effect of spatial information conveyed through the path in visual and proprioceptive learning of a room-sized spatial layout, exploring whether different modalities differentially depend on the integrity of the path. Learning object locations along a coherent path was compared with learning them in a spatially random manner. Path integrity had little effect on visual learning, whereas learning with the coherent path produced better memory performance than random order learning for proprioceptive learning. These results suggest that path information has differential effects in visual and proprioceptive spatial learning, perhaps due to a difference in the way one establishes a reference frame for representing relative locations of objects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. yamamoto@jhu.edu
authors.forename: Naohide
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Amy L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Shelton
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003210:Concept Formation / Q000502:physiology; D003463:Cues; D003657:Decision Making / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D011434:Proprioception / Q000502:physiology*; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*