Biomedical subjects

Paul N Wilson

Publications and source records attributed to Paul N Wilson.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Memory for targets in a multi-level simulated-environment: a comparison between able-bodied and physically disabled children.

Two groups of children, one able-bodied and the other with physical disabilities, explored a symmetrical three-tiered virtual building that contained six distinctive target objects, two on each story. In a subsequent test, the target objects were removed and participants were asked to make judgments of the directions to the former target locations from each floor in turn. At each test site, judgments were required for targets that were formerly on the same floor and for those on higher and lower floors. Relative tilt error scores suggested a bias for both groups, in that targets that were higher than the test location were judged as consistently lower than their actual position, whereas targets that were lower than the test location were judged as higher than their actual position. Absolute tilt errors revealed an asymmetry in both groups, with more accurate tilt errors for judgments directed to lower than higher floors. The relevance of these results for the source of the asymmetry is discussed.

Child↗

PubMed2004

First-perspective alignment effects in a computer-simulated environment.

In Experiment 1, participants explored two desktop, virtual environments (VEs), each comprising three city streets connected at right angles; for each participant one VE was open and one was enclosed. Following the first VE exploration, orientation estimates to remembered test locations were most accurate when participants imagined themselves aligned, rather than 90 degrees misaligned or 180 degrees or contra-aligned, with the first part of the route. In the second VE, the effect was attenuated and the data pattern conformed to that anticipated from an orientation-free memory. Experiment 2 followed the procedure of Experiment 1, but omitted the alignment tests after the first VE; following the second VE exploration, orientation estimates presented a similar pattern to those in first test of Experiment 1. These data are discussed in terms of cognitive load.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Memory for targets in a multilevel simulated environment: evidence for vertical asymmetry in spatial memory.

In two experiments, adult participants explored a symmetrical three-tiered computer-simulated building that contained six distinctive objects, two on each floor. Following exploration, the objects were removed, and the participants were asked to make direction judgments from each floor, indicating the former positions of the objects on that floor and on higher and lower floors. Relative tilt error scores indicated a bias, in that targets that were higher than the test location were judged as consistently lower than their actual positions and targets that were lower than the test location were judged as consistently higher than their actual positions. Absolute tilt errors revealed an asymmetry, with more accurate and less variable tilt errors for judgments directed to lower floors than for judgments directed to higher floors. Experiment 3 ruled out an account of the findings that does not relate them to spatial memory. The results suggest that the superiority of downward over upward spatial judgments, previously reported in two-dimensional visual-spatial tasks, extends to navigational spatial memory.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Effects of early mobility on shortcut performance in a simulated maze.

This experiment compared the shortcut choices of able-bodied teenagers with those of physically disabled teenagers who had varying histories of mobility impairment. In a computer-simulated kite-shaped maze, participants were allowed to explore three arms that connected four rooms. Subsequently they were offered a choice between paths connecting two rooms, one of which was a novel shortcut. Disabled teenagers chose correctly on fewer occasions than their able-bodied counterparts. Despite equivalent current levels of mobility, disabled participants whose mobility was more limited early in development were poorer at the task than those whose mobility had deteriorated with age. The results suggest that early independent exploration is important in the development of spatial knowledge, and suggest that the detrimental effects of limited early exploratory experience may persist into the teenage years.

Adolescent↗