Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems

Lew, A.R.; Usherwood, B.; Fragkioudaki, F.; Koukoumi, V.; Smith, S.P.; Austen, J.M.; McGregor, A.

doi:10.1002/dev.21109

Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems

Lew, A.R.; Usherwood, B.; Fragkioudaki, F.; Koukoumi, V.; Smith, S.P.; Austen, J.M.; McGregor, A.

Authors

A.R. Lew

B. Usherwood

F. Fragkioudaki

V. Koukoumi

S.P. Smith

Joseph Austen j.m.austen@durham.ac.uk
PGR Student Doctor of Philosophy

Professor Anthony Mcgregor anthony.mcgregor@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Whether animals represent environmental geometry in a global and/or local way has been the subject of recent debate. We applied a transfer of search paradigm between rectangular- and kite-shaped arenas to examine the performance of human adults (using virtual environments) and children of 2.5–3.5 years (using real arenas). Adults showed robust transfer to a congruent corner in a kite-shaped arena, following training in a rectangular-shaped arena in two paradigms modeled on those used with rats and young children respectively. In contrast, the children showed no evidence of transfer of search, despite above chance performance in the rectangular arena, and above chance performance in a study where search occurred in the kite arena only. The pattern of findings suggests global aspects of environmental geometry may be used to re-establish heading, and that the matching of elements of local geometry in new global contexts may be an advanced developmental achievement.

Citation

Lew, A., Usherwood, B., Fragkioudaki, F., Koukoumi, V., Smith, S., Austen, J., & McGregor, A. (2014). Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens): implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems. Developmental Psychobiology, 56(3), 421-434. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21109

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 18, 2013
Online Publication Date	Mar 26, 2013
Publication Date	Apr 1, 2014
Deposit Date	Apr 23, 2012
Publicly Available Date	Apr 28, 2014
Journal	Developmental Psychobiology
Print ISSN	0012-1630
Electronic ISSN	1098-2302
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	56
Issue	3
Pages	421-434
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21109
Keywords	Spatial navigation, Geometric module, Reorientation, Spatial development, Spatial cognition, Local geometry.

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Copyright Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Lew, A. R. and Usherwood, B. and Fragkioudaki, F. and Koukoum, V. and Austen, J. M. and Smith, S. P. and McGregor, A. (2014) 'Transfer of spatial search between environments in human adults and young children (Homo sapiens) : implications for representation of local geometry by spatial systems.', Developmental psychobiology., 56 (3). pp. 421-434, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dev.21109. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.