ERIC Number: EJ844412
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0211-2159
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Remembered Landmarks Enhance the Precision of Path Integration
Philbeck, John W.; O'Leary, Shannon
Psicologica: International Journal of Methodology and Experimental Psychology, v26 n1 p7-24 2005
When navigating by path integration, knowledge of one's position becomes increasingly uncertain as one walks from a known location. This uncertainty decreases if one perceives a known landmark location nearby. We hypothesized that remembering landmarks might serve a similar purpose for path integration as directly perceiving them. If this is true, walking near a remembered landmark location should enhance response consistency in path integration tasks. To test this, we asked participants to view a target and then attempt to walk to it without vision. Some participants saw the target plus a landmark during the preview. Compared with no-landmark trials, response consistency nearly doubled when participants passed near the remembered landmark location. Similar results were obtained when participants could audibly perceive the landmark while walking. A control experiment ruled out perceptual context effects during the preview. We conclude that remembered landmarks can enhance path integration even though they are not directly perceived. (Contains 4 tables, 2 figures and 1 footnote.)
Descriptors: Vision, Navigation, Geographic Location, Visual Perception, Spatial Ability, Physical Activities, Visual Stimuli, Memory
University of Valencia. Dept. Metodologia, Facultad de Psicologia, Avda. Blasco Ibanez 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain. Tel: +34-96-386-4100; Web site: http://www.uv.es/revispsi/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A