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Abstract The subjective number-space mapping and, especially, its evolution in young children has been the subject of intense controversy among different competing models. Many studies point out that: (i) young children's innate estimates follow a logarithmic mapping (Weber-Fechner law) and (ii) driven by education, children evolve into a linear mapping. In this paper we show, in consonance with other investigations, that innate numerical intuitions of young children are in fact a linear mapping, and not a logarithmic one. We found that young children extrapolate linearly from a reference point. The apparent logarithmic mapping is an artifact produced by placing a huge range of numbers within a small number line. We show how the appearance of the mapping can be modulated by changing the size and contour conditions of the number lines used in experiments.

Abstract Spatial proximity to important stimuli often induces impulsive behaviour. How we overcome impulsive tendencies is what determines behaviour to be adaptive. Here, we used virtual reality to investigate whether the spatial proximity of stimuli is causally related to the supplementary motor area (SMA) functions. In two experiments, we set out to investigate these processes using a virtual environment that recreates close and distant spaces to test the causal contributions of the SMA in spatial impulsivity. In an online first experiment (N = 93) we validated and measured the influence of distant stimuli using a go/no-go task with close (21 cm) or distant stimuli (360 cm). In experiment 2 (N = 28), we applied transcranial static magnetic stimulation (tSMS) over the SMA (double-blind, crossover, sham-controlled design) to test its computations in controlling impulsive tendencies towards close vs distant stimuli. Reaction times and error rates (omission and commission) were analysed. In addition, the EZ Model parameters (a, v, Ter and MDT) were computed. Close stimuli elicited faster responses compared to distant stimuli but also exhibited higher error rates, specifically in commission errors (experiment 1). Real stimulation over SMA slowed response latencies (experiment 2), an effect mediated by an increase in decision thresholds (a). Current findings suggest that impulsivity might be modulated by spatial proximity, resulting in accelerated actions that may lead to an increase of inaccurate responses to nearby objects. Our study also provides a first starting point on the role of the SMA in regulating spatial impulsivity.

Abstract Navigation is essential to life, and it is cognitively complex, drawing on abilities such as prospective and situated planning, spatial memory, location recognition, and real-time decision-making. In many cases, day-to-day navigation is embedded in a social context where cognition and behavior are shaped by others, but the great majority of existing research in spatial cognition has focused on individuals. The two studies we report here contribute to our understanding of social wayfinding, assessing the performance of paired and individual navigators on a real-world wayfinding task in which they were instructed to minimize time and distance traveled. In the first study, we recruited 30 pairs of friends (familiar dyads); in the second, we recruited 30 solo participants (individuals). We compare the two studies to the results of an earlier study of 30 pairs of strangers (unfamiliar dyads). We draw out differences in performance with respect to spatial, social, and cognitive considerations. Of the three conditions, solo participants were least successful in reaching the destination accurately on their initial attempt. Friends traveled more efficiently than either strangers or individuals. Working with a partner also appeared to lend confidence to wayfinders: dyads of either familiarity type were more persistent than individuals in the navigation task, even after encountering challenges or making incorrect attempts. Route selection was additionally impacted by route complexity and unfamiliarity with the study area. Navigators explicitly used ease of remembering as a planning criterion, and the resulting differences in route complexity likely influenced success during enacted navigation.

IntroductionDuring mental rotation tasks, it is assumed that participants visualize a rotation of objects in their minds (internal visualization), but mental rotation has also been linked to the visible rotation of objects on a screen (external visualization). The angular disparity in mental rotation also influences postural sway, the movements of the body center. Postural sway is thus suspected as one type of indirect measurement of the rotation process. We compare the external visualization of rotation with the suspected internal visualization during mental rotation tasks. We suspect both are similar and thus produce a comparable effect on postural sway.MethodsOne hundred and fifty participants completed three rotation tasks with cube figures, two of which were aided by external visualization. Their center of pressure was measured throughout. The effects of external visualization, angular disparity, and their interaction on postural sway were compared using Bayesian statistics and a decision boundary of 3 or 1/3.Results and discussionThe results indicate no differences between conditions for all postural sway parameters. We observe differences between conditions in cognitive load and reaction time. However, as these partially also differ between the two external visualization conditions and do not transfer to differences between the postural sway parameters, the underlying processes in the three conditions are likely similar. Our results support the notion that the visualization of rotation is central to postural sway during mental rotation. This further supports that the rotation process of the external visualization and mental rotation are similar and thus that stimuli are indeed rotated mentally during mental rotation tasks. Our results further support that the common process between mental and manual rotation lies in the visualization instead of mental rotation being an imagined motor action. Because visual control and feedback play an essential role in many motor tasks, the results could also be of further interest for a more general link between motor and cognitive tasks and bidirectional benefits through the construction of visual similarities.

Mental rotation (MR) is an important feature of spatial cognition invoking mental imagery of an object’s appearance when viewed from a new orientation. Prior studies have revealed evidence of MR in infants, including a sex difference similar to that detected in older populations. Some of these studies used visual habituation methods whereby infants were familiarized with an object rotating through a 240° angle, followed by test trials showing either the habituation object or a mirror image object rotating through the previously unseen 120° angle. Significantly longer looking at either of these objects was taken to reflect infants’ ability to recognize the habituation object even when seen from a novel viewpoint, suggesting the capacity for MR. However, these infants’ responses could, in theory, be explained with reference to perceptual discrimination rather than MR, because the views of the habituation and test objects were very similar in some video frames. In the current study, we observed a diverse population of 5-month-olds (24 females, 24 males) for evidence of MR through 30° of arc. In this more challenging test, our stimuli left a 30° gap angle between critical video frames representing the habituation and test objects. Consistent with earlier reports, we found that relative to female infants, male infants looked significantly longer at the mirror image test stimulus immediately following habituation. These results add to an emerging consensus that some young infants are capable of MR, and that male and female infants on average behave differently in this type of MR task.

Understanding what others are doing is a fundamental aspect of social cognition and a skill that is arguably linked to visuospatial perspective taking (VPT), the ability to apprehend the spatial layout of a scene from another's perspective. Yet, with few and notable exceptions, action understanding and VPT are rarely studied together. Participants (43 females, 37 males) made judgements about the spatial layout of objects in a scene from the perspective of an avatar who was positioned at 0°, 90°, 270° or 180° relative to the participant. In a variant of a traditional VPT task, the avatar either interacted with the objects in the scene, by pointing to or reaching for them, or was present but did not engage with the objects. Although the task was identical across all conditions - to say whether a target object is to the right or left of a control object - we show that the avatar's actions modulates performance. Specifically, participants were more accurate when the avatar engaged with the target object, and correspondingly, less accurate and slower when the avatar interacted with the control objects. As these effects were independent of the angular disparity between participant and avatar perspectives, we conclude that action understanding and VPT are likely linked via the rapid deployment of two separate cognitive mechanisms. All participants provided a measure of self-reported empathy and we show that response times decrease with increasing empathy scores for female but not for male participants. However, within the range of ‘typical’ empathy scores, defined here as the interquartile range where 50 % of the data lie, females were faster than males. These findings lend further insight into the relationship between spatial and social perspective taking.

Abstract Traditional Chinese villages act as the essential carriers of China’s rural heritage. Such villages are considered to retain living practices of intangible heritage through know-how, artistic and folk customs, as well as a well-preserved architectural appearance. However, their conservation is at stake due to degradation, abandonment, and urbanization. Spatial cognition is one way of bringing people to the matter of what is important to conserve (attributes) and why they are important (values). This is done by analysing how people perceive and value rural heritage. Traditional methods of gathering spatial cognition data, such as laborious fieldwork or subjective qualitative analyses, often fall short of providing a holistic representation of real-world experiences. This article presents an innovative method for analysing cognitive features in traditional village spaces using an immersive virtual reality equipped with an eye-tracking system. We selected Cheng and Jitou, two traditional Chinese villages, as our case studies. In two virtual reality environments, we captured accurate 3D cognitive data, including participants’ locomotion, gaze point, and sightline. The results indicate that the accessibility of village roads affects the distribution of people’s locomotion, which in turn affects the distribution of people’s areas of interest; the changes in the rhythm of the sightline scale reflect the rhythm of spatial changes in the villages. By broadening the understanding of spatial cognition in traditional Chinese villages related to people’s values, this paper sheds light on an alternative approach to assess the cultural significance of such villages for higher conservation and sustainability.

Human visuospatial cognition plays a critical role in risk perception and resultant decision-making. In the context of hazardous meteorological conditions, risk communication aspiring to encourage desired protective action decision-making from the public must consider these cognitive factors. For messages encouraging protective action, the audience must receive, understand, and internalize the message before acting. Spatial processing of information may impact a person's understanding and is a precursor to taking protective action. This study proposes a critical assessment of relevant cognitive behavior literature into a synthesis with implications for hazardous weather risk communication. Socioeconomic and other demographic factors (e.g., education, social status, income) have a strong influence on risk perception and resultant behavior. For example, lower economic status individuals may perceive a lower risk when confronted with a particular situation relative to those with higher economic status and be more apt to take higher risks if the potential loss of income was perceived as a worse outcome for themselves individually. Additionally, previous research found age and other demographic-related differences (e.g., gender) in how people remember information when presented in a map-like versus first-person/ground-level perspective. Younger adults use a coordinate processing strategy while older adults use a categorical processing strategy. Both groups had a similar level of accuracy in recall; however, older adults were less accurate when recalling information from first-person perspective layouts. This suggests individual differences in how information presented on maps is processed (e.g., forecasts, hazardous weather alerts) compared to personal perception of the weather when it is experienced. Perceptual differences could result in increased public exposure to dangerous conditions otherwise believed, or perceived, to be safe.

Time and space form an integral part of every human experience, and for the neuronal representation of these perceptual dimensions, previous studies point to the involvement of the right-hemispheric intraparietal sulcus and structures in the medial temporal lobe. Here we used multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate long-term memory traces for temporal and spatial stimulus features in those areas. Participants were trained on four images associated with short versus long durations and with left versus right locations. Our results demonstrate stable representations of both temporal and spatial information in the right posterior intraparietal sulcus. Building upon previous findings of stable neuronal codes for directly perceived durations and locations, these results show that the reactivation of long-term memory traces for temporal and spatial features can be decoded from neuronal activation patterns in the right parietal cortex.

Autistic people typically need methodical support as they explore and interact with their immediate surroundings and the objects associated with them, emphasising the importance of spatial knowledge and cognitive skills in improving and understanding their surroundings. The objective of this research paper is to present a conceptual and technical framework that could be of significant assistance in developing spatial ability and cognitive skills in autistic people. This framework is constructed based on aspects of autistic behaviour, spatial cognition, and technical aspects of haptic technology and virtual environments (VEs). The framework uses the Model, View, Controller (MVC) pattern as its structural foundation. This paper highlights the important elements required for scholars and designers to create and develop a haptic-based virtual environment (HBVE) for autistic people in order to improve spatial knowledge and cognitive skills. Furthermore, this research also aimed to create an HBVE application based on the proposed framework in order to assess its effectiveness. This research paper evaluates the proposed framework based on end-user perspectives. The findings indicate that the experimental study conducted with autistic people has demonstrated notable progress in enhancing spatial knowledge and cognitive abilities among this population. The experimental implementation of these findings supports the developed framework’s efficacy.

Background and Aim: Previous studies have shown promising findings on effectiveness of noisy Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (nGVS) in various cognitive disorders. The connections of the vestibular system with the hippocampus has been proven. Here we investigated the effect of vestibular galvanic stimulation on the improvement of spatial learning and memory of rats. Methods: Twelve Wistar rats were randomly divided into control and nGVS groups. The nGVS group underwent 30-minute sessions of stimulation at sub-threshold levels for a duration of fourteen days. Following the intervention, both groups underwent assessments of cognitive indices through the Morris water maze task, hippocampal neuronal spike rate by Single-Unit Recording (SUR) and the concentrations of c-fos protein in the hippocampus were measured using ELISA device. Results: The nGVS group exhibited a significant difference compared to the control group in both the time taken to reach the target platform and the percentage of time spent in the goal quarter during the Morris water maze test. The nGVS treatment significantly enhanced spike rate of hippocampal dentate gyrus (p

Probucol has been utilized as a cholesterol-lowering drug with antioxidative properties. However, the impact and fundamental mechanisms of probucol in obesity-related cognitive decline are unclear. In this study, male C57BL/6J mice were allocated to a normal chow diet (NCD) group or a high-fat diet (HFD) group, followed by administration of probucol to half of the mice on the HFD regimen. Subsequently, the mice were subjected to a series of behavioral assessments, alongside the measurement of metabolic and redox parameters. Notably, probucol treatment effectively alleviates cognitive and social impairments induced by HFD in mice, while exhibiting no discernible influence on mood-related behaviors. Notably, the beneficial effects of probucol arise independently of rectifying obesity or restoring systemic glucose and lipid homeostasis, as evidenced by the lack of changes in body weight, serum cholesterol levels, blood glucose, hyperinsulinemia, systemic insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. Instead, probucol could regulate the levels of nitric oxide and superoxide-generating proteins, and it could specifically alleviate HFD-induced hippocampal insulin resistance. These findings shed light on the potential role of probucol in modulating obesity-related cognitive decline and urge reevaluation of the underlying mechanisms by which probucol exerts its beneficial effects.

Grid firing fields have been proposed as a neural substrate for spatial localisation in general or for path integration in particular. To distinguish these possibilities, we investigate firing of grid and non-grid cells in the mouse medial entorhinal cortex during a location memory task. We find that grid firing can either be anchored to the task environment, or can encode distance travelled independently of the task reference frame. Anchoring varied between and within sessions, while spatial firing of non-grid cells was either coherent with the grid population, or was stably anchored to the task environment. We took advantage of the variability in task-anchoring to evaluate whether and when encoding of location by grid cells might contribute to behaviour. We find that when reward location is indicated by a visual cue, performance is similar regardless of whether grid cells are task-anchored or not, arguing against a role for grid representations when location cues are available. By contrast, in the absence of the visual cue, performance was enhanced when grid cells were anchored to the task environment. Our results suggest that anchoring of grid cells to task reference frames selectively enhances performance when path integration is required.

An animal’s ability to navigate its home range in search of essential resources is a key aspect of its ecology. To reach these resources, animals employ varying navigational processes depending on their exocentric or egocentric view of their environment. The goal of this study was to determine if the Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus), a nocturnal arboreal primate found in southeast Asia, uses some form of cognitive map and spatial memory while navigating their environment. Using behavioural and GPS data of six males and seven females collected at the Little Fireface Project field station based in West Java, Indonesia, we measured their frequency of revisiting important feeding trees, route overlap, and points where individuals significantly changed directions. We found that all individuals predominantly used four tree species while feeding and foraging. The lorises also displayed a high level of route overlap, leading us to conclude that they likely utilize a route-based cognitive map where certain landmarks are integral to their nightly movement. Few studies have specifically focused on strepsirrhine spatial cognition in the wild; here, we show the navigational mechanism used by the Javan slow loris to reach distant/out-of-sight resources. The evident reliance on spatial cognition in a strepsirrhine species suggest that it could be an important selective pressure for primates at the earliest stages of primate cognitive evolution. In addition to the importance of spatial memory in theoretical discourse, understanding slow loris movement has practical applications to conservation, particularly regarding the numerous translocations undertaken by individuals rescued from the illegal wildlife trade. We discuss the importance of considering soft release training and monitoring in such releases.

Multiscale virtual environments (MSVEs) allow the integration of elements and environments at different scale levels into a unified space, which facilitates researchers’ perception, understanding, and experimental research of complex geospatial spaces. Although there have been several methods for achieving multiscale effects in virtual environments (VEs), they cannot assist users in constructing more complete spatial cognitive maps and presenting multiscale information efficiently. This study proposes a hierarchical-structure-based MSVE construction method, which can effectively integrate multiscale information and ensure that the richness of details of information is gradually enhanced with the progression of the hierarchical structure. In addition, a spatial navigation study is conducted, considering the relationship between users’ perspective changes and spatial cognition, and the effects of users’ perspective changes on their spatial cognition in an MSVE are explored. A multiscale virtual wetland environment covering four levels is constructed to conduct a case study of a virtual environment of a wetland of Poyang Lake. The research results show that the proposed method is feasible. Moreover, the spatial navigation based on the change in the hierarchical perspective is in line with the spatial cognitive habits of users, which can satisfy the cognitive needs of users from the macro-region to specific wetland landscapes.

Children have persistent difficulty with foundational measurement concepts, which may be linked to the instruction they receive. Here, we focus on testing various ways to support their understanding that rulers comprise spatial interval units. We examined whether evidence-based learning tools—disconfirming evidence and/or structural alignment—enhance their understanding of ruler units. Disconfirming evidence, in this context, involves having children count the spatial interval units under an object that is not aligned with the origin of a ruler. Structural alignment, in this context, involves highlighting what a ruler unit is by overlaying plastic unit chips on top of ruler units when an object is aligned with the origin of a ruler. In three experiments employing a pre-test/training/post-test design, a total of 120 second graders were randomly assigned to one of six training conditions (two training conditions per experiment). The training conditions included different evidence-based learning principles or “business-as-usual” instruction (control), with equal allocation to each (N = 20 for each condition). In each experiment, children who did not perform above chance level on the pre-test were selected to continue with training, which resulted in a total of 88 students for the analysis of improvement. The children showed significant improvement in training conditions that included disconfirming evidence, but not in the structural alignment or control conditions. However, an exploratory analysis suggests that improvement occurred more rapidly and was retained better when structural alignment was combined with disconfirming evidence compared to disconfirming evidence alone.

Individuals react differently when moving in urban spaces, as their senses are distinctively activated. Their interpretations and how the built environment is perceived result in different meanings. When studying public spaces, it is of utmost importance to understand how residents and visitors construct images of the city, by perceiving and appropriating urban spaces. In particular, this is decisive when designing Pedestrian Wayfinding Systems (PWS) in urban areas. Based on spatial cognition studies, this paper identifies and explores the main aspects influencing the design of wayfinding systems. The study is structured in three main parts. First, the article reviews literature on spatial cognition and human behaviors. Second, it analyzes some reference cases considered good practices for PWS, their implementation in contemporary public spaces, and their visual and aesthetic forms of expression. Third, it develops a practical guide for designing a PWS focused on end-users. More specifically, the research aims to support the municipality of Porto in defining the tender specifications for the development of a PWS, to be included in the future Integrated Signage and Information System. Ultimately, this study proposes recommendations to improve pedestrian navigation in the urban context and help decision-makers, designers, and urban planners potentially create better wayfinding systems in the future.

Abstract External representations powerfully support and augment complex human behavior. When navigating, people often consult external representations to help them find the way to go, but do maps or verbal instructions improve spatial knowledge or support effective wayfinding? Here, we examine spatial knowledge with and without external representations in two studies where participants learn a complex virtual environment. In the first study, we asked participants to generate their own maps or verbal instructions, partway through learning. We found no evidence of improved spatial knowledge in a pointing task requiring participants to infer the direction between two targets, either on the same route or on different routes, and no differences between groups in accurately recreating a map of the target landmarks. However, as a methodological note, pointing was correlated with the accuracy of the maps that participants drew. In the second study, participants had access to an accurate map or set of verbal instructions that they could study while learning the layout of target landmarks. Again, we found no evidence of differentially improved spatial knowledge in the pointing task, although we did find that the map group could recreate a map of the target landmarks more accurately. However, overall improvement was high. There was evidence that the nature of improvement across all conditions was specific to initial navigation ability levels. Our findings add to a mixed literature on the role of external representations for navigation and suggest that more substantial intervention—more scaffolding, explicit training, enhanced visualization, perhaps with personalized sequencing—may be necessary to improve navigation ability.

Alternative mating tactics within mating systems are characterized by discrete patterns of spatio-temporal overlap with same-and opposite-sex conspecifics and mating-relevant outcomes. Socially monogamous “residents” maintain relatively small home range sizes, have territories that almost exclusively overlap with their mating partners, and are more likely to produce offspring than non-bonded “wandering” conspecifics. Because mating tactics appear to be so closely tied to patterns of space use, differences in spatial cognitive abilities might differentially impact individual males’ decisions to adopt a particular mating tactic and/or how efficient they are within their chosen mating tactic. Yet few studies have considered how the hippocampus, a brain region important for encoding cognitive maps and for processing contextual information, might impact how individuals adopt mating tactics or the spatio-temporal behaviors closely associated with them. We assessed the impact of lesions to the dorsal CA1 (dCA1) region of the hippocampus on male prairie vole space use, reproductive success, and mating tactics in semi-natural outdoor field conditions. Interestingly, dCA1 lesions did not impact the proportion of males that adopted resident or wandering mating tactics, and dCA1 lesions did not impact a male’s ability to form a pair bond in the lab. In contrast, we found that lesioning the dCA1 shifted the home range size of reproductively successful and unsuccessful males. Furthermore, we found that patterns of space use among residents were unaffected by dCA1 lesions, whereas wanderers with dCA1 lesions showed pronounced reductions of their space use habits and resembled non-lesioned residents. Collectively, our study supports the hypothesis that wanderer male prairie voles rely on dCA1-mediated spatial cognition to navigate their world in a way that resident males do not. Such differences might have implications for how individuals efficiently attract and defend mates, obtain resources, defend territories, and outcompete rivals.

A putative male advantage in wayfinding ability is the most widely documented sex difference in human cognition and has also been observed in other animals. The common interpretation, the sex-specific adaptation hypothesis, posits that this male advantage evolved as an adaptive response to sex differences in home range size. A previous study a decade ago tested this hypothesis by comparing sex differences in home range size and spatial ability among 11 species and found no relationship. However, the study was limited by the small sample size, the lack of species with a larger female home range and the lack of non-Western human data. The present study represents an update that addresses all of these limitations, including data from 10 more species and from human subsistence cultures. Consistent with the previous result, we found little evidence that sex differences in spatial navigation and home range size are related. We conclude that sex differences in spatial ability are more likely due to experiential factors and/or unselected biological side effects, rather than functional outcomes of natural selection.

Spatial reasoning is ingrained in daily life, such as when locating our keys or parking our car. At a broad level, spatial reasoning describes the ability to mentally represent and transform objects and their relations. Spatial reasoning is comprised of distinct, yet related, spatial skills, most of which have strong links with mathematics achievement. Subsequently, understanding the ways spatial reasoning connects with mathematics has the potential to support achievement in school. However, current research practices have failed to translate into practical outcomes for students. To date, research has often focused on decontextualized spatial skills, measured by psychometric tests, to generalize about broader models of spatial reasoning. However, spatial reasoning goes beyond test performance. In this theoretical review, I have sought to find the points of connection between the fields of cognitive psychology, often based in the lab, and mathematics education, situated within classrooms, and discussed ways to connect this currently siloed work for greater impact on classroom practice. The paper addresses the emergence of spatial research from its historical roots in intelligence testing and the influence these conceptualizations have had on contemporary methodologies. It goes on to discuss how these research traditions may be limiting our ability to understand the mechanisms linking spatial reasoning and mathematics. The paper argues for a broader view of research problems and methodologies in spatial cognition research to facilitate the translation of research to meaningful contexts in pedagogy and learning.

Online Virtual Museums (OVM) serve as vital conduits for the global propagation of cultural heritage but grapple with the challenge of user disorientation due to the absence of physical references. Leveraging the successful paradigm of game-based virtual navigation, this study investigates the potential integration of game mini-map navigation design elements into OVM to enhance spatial cognition. Through empirical investigation, a conceptual model was developed to probe the role of core mini-map design elements (interactivity, visual guidance, and information content) in augmenting spatial cognition. Results indicate that optimizing these elements significantly enhances user immersion and presence, thereby improving spatial cognition. Specifically, information content and visual guidance exerted stronger effects on immersion and presence, respectively. This research contributes a novel perspective on incorporating game design strategies into non-game virtual experiences, offering practical guidance for enhancing navigation in OVM and similar virtual environments. This bridges the gap between virtual museum navigation and game design, propelling the evolution of more dynamic, interactive, and user-centric virtual environments, thus fostering the preservation and dissemination of digital cultural heritage.

A head-mounted display could potentially restrict users’ visual fields and thereby impair their spatial cognitive ability. Spatial cognition can be assisted with immersive visual guidance. However, whether this technique is useful for individuals with autism-spectrum disorder (ASD) remains unclear. Given the recent virtual reality (VR) contents targeting individuals with ASD, the relationship between ASD-related traits and the effectiveness of immersive visual guidance should be clarified. This pilot study evaluated how ASD-related traits (autistic traits and empathizing–systemizing cognitive styles) among typically developing individuals are related to the effectiveness of visual guidance. Participants performed visual search and spatial localization tasks while using immersive visual guidance. In the visual search task, participants searched immersive VR environments for a target object and pushed a button according to the target color as quickly as possible. In the localization task, they viewed immersive visual guidance for a short duration and localized the guided direction via a controller. Results showed that visual search times were hastened with systemizing cognition. However, ASD-related traits were not significantly related to localization accuracy. These findings suggest that immersive visual guidance is generally useful for individuals with higher ASD-related traits.

Despite the predominant focus on visual perception in most studies, the role of humans’ sense of smell in navigation has often been neglected. Recent research, however, could show that humans are indeed able to use their sense of smell for orientation, particularly when processed implicitly. In this study, we investigate whether implicit perception of olfactory landmarks enhanced wayfinding performance compared to explicit perception. Fifty-two people completed a wayfinding and a recognition task in a virtual maze at two times of testing 1 month apart. Participants either received olfactory, visual, or both cues at the intersections. Wayfinding performance was better for olfactory landmarks, which were not correctly remembered in the recognition task. In contrast, wayfinding performance was better when visual landmarks were correctly remembered. In the multimodal condition, wayfinding performance was better with landmarks being remembered at t1 and remained the same at t2. Our results suggest distinct implicit processing mechanisms within the olfactory system and therefore hold important implications for the nature of spatial odor processing extending beyond explicit odor localization tasks. The study highlights the importance for future studies to develop and employ further experimental methods that capture implicit processing across all of our senses. This is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of consciousness, as olfaction strongly influences our behavior, but remains largely latent unless deliberately honed through practice.

IntroductionBehavioural problems in family dogs are amongst the leading reasons for relinquishment to shelters which adversely affects animal welfare. Recent research suggests that certain problematic behavioural patterns might be analogous to human psychiatric disorders. Veterinary diagnosis of such conditions, however, is scarce, probably due to the lack of appropriate measurement tools. The current study focuses on dog behaviour resembling the human hemispatial neglect condition, which manifests itself as a deficit in attention to and awareness of one side of the space.MethodsHealthy human subjects (N = 21) and adult family dogs (N = 23) were tested with tools aimed to measure spatial attention. Tests administered to humans included validated paper and pencil neuropsychological tools to assess hemispatial neglect (cancellation tasks), as well as the canine version of that task (visuo-spatial search task). Dogs were tested with the same visuo-spatial search task as well as a two-way choice task.ResultsResults show that both in case of dogs and humans the visuo-spatial search task detects individual variation in subjects’ side preferences. However, subjects’ performance in the different tasks were not related.

In the aftermath of the WWII, many French cities faced a great need for reconstruction in response to the heavy destruction caused by the bombardments. Reconstruction plans were developed and implemented at relatively short notice in response to a critical and urgent situation. However, not all cities adopted the same approach: (a) some proposed and implemented a new layout; (b) others tried to recreate the old street layout but with some updates such as widening and alignment; and finally, (c) some have preferred to resort to more targeted interventions. The choice of approach was motivated by various factors associated with the level of destruction, the futuristic vision of the architect or urbanist in charge, or the historic value of the place destroyed. This article assesses the impact of these approaches on the urban tissue by measuring changes in the overall morphology and intelligibility of multiple city centres before and after the reconstruction based on their cadastral maps. Intelligibility is first measured as a configurational property of the street layout and then as a result of public participation in a navigation task using these maps and digital technology that records the speed of movement and trajectories. This allows a comparison between the original street layout and the new one, as well as across the different cities. Drawing on indicators of spatial cognition, this interdisciplinary research approach provides a means to measure and better understand the impact of the reconstruction on the intelligibility of urban environments.

The Developmental Topographical Disorientation (DTD) is a pathological condition that impairs an individual’s ability to orient in space, even in the most familiar environments. It is a lifelong selective condition in individuals without brain damage or without impaired general cognitive functions. Here, we aimed at characterizing 54 individuals with DTD identified in a previous study, aged between 18 and 35 years and assessed through a 4-year-long online survey. To this purpose, we compared them with 54 matched healthy participants. We described the demographics, sense of direction, town knowledge, navigational strategies, left-right confusion as well as agnosic disorders (for landmarks, faces and objects). This novel study attempts to characterize the phenotype of DTD, providing an important contribution to the worldwide definition of a condition that was first described only 13 years ago, but which, considering the growing number of cases complaining of the disorder, deserves continuous and increasing attention.

Abstract Spatial cognition is a pivotal consideration in hospital buildings. Potential circulation configuration alternatives in hospitals have been filtered to 59 significant alternatives, to be simulated using space syntax analyses for measuring connectivity, visual integration, and visual step depth. Best alternatives have been determined via comparison and correlation analysis. A survey has been conducted, comparing the preferences of professional architects with simulation outcomes. Results show that best and worst alternatives exist in triangular and circular buildings, respectively. Also, cul-de-sac corridors are argued to promote spatial cognition better than looped corridors. Notably, cognition is inversely proportional to the curvature of the circulation spaces, number of nodes, and the number of branches. The survey showed a weak perception of the best alternatives, while respondents have a better perception of highly visible locations in these alternatives.

Maps have long been a part of everyday life for the general public, and even more so in today’s knowledge society. No doubt, cartography as a profession of map design is assuming a more important role in the formation of intellectual skills in terms of spatial reasoning. Since its emergence as an academic discipline about 100 years ago, cartography has undergone many paradigm shifts. Its interaction with other disciplines has also constantly unfolded. These changes have left traces in cartographic education programs. In the age of big data, however, we are facing four fundamental challenges: (1) cartographic courses are being marginalized or even disappearing from degree programs in geospatial sciences; (2) the role of cartographers is increasingly eclipsed as a side effect of participatory cartography; (3) cartographers are blamed whenever something goes wrong with map use; and (4) professional map publishers can hardly compete with online mapping platforms dominated by Internet giants. Based on a contextual analysis of this seemingly gloomy situation, the paper reveals a number of proliferation points for the design of future cartographic curricula. First, cartography, once dedicated to supporting geospatial sciences, is thriving in the soil of data science, mapping not only the earth or other celestial bodies, but literally any kind of virtual space. Second, cartography has benefited from theoretical and technological advances in cognitive sciences, especially non-intrusive user studies, so that spatial cognition is becoming an integral component of cartographic education. Third, the role of scapegoat for wrongdoing of maps has accentuated cartographer’s overarching responsibility for quality and ethical issues in the geodata value chain. Finally, the diversification of the labor market requires new approaches to prepare future talents for a coopetition-oriented ecosystem in the marketplace.

Our brain employs mechanisms to adapt to changing visual conditions. In addition to natural changes in our physiology and those in the environment, our brain is also capable of adapting to “unnatural” changes, such as inverted visual-inputs generated by inverting prisms. In this study, we examined the brain’s capability to adapt to hyperspaces. We generated four spatial-dimensional stimuli in virtual reality and tested the ability to distinguish between rigid and non-rigid motion. We found that observers are able to differentiate rigid and non-rigid motion of hypercubes (4D) with a performance comparable to that obtained using cubes (3D). Moreover, observers’ performance improved when they were provided with more immersive 3D experience but remained robust against increasing shape variations. At this juncture, we characterize our findings as “3 1/2 D perception” since, while we show the ability to extract and use 4D information, we do not have yet evidence of a complete phenomenal 4D experience.

A place reflects the collective cognition of the geographical extent and semantics of a named spatial domain, acting as a vital reference to a particular space in daily discourse. Boundaries and toponyms are essential identifiers of places. Frameworks that are efficient in real-world boundary determination of cognitive places are still missing. The emergence of a large amount of geotagged user-generated content (geo-UGC) offers new opportunities to model the place boundaries from a more human-centric perspective. However, the broad geographical scales of places and the noise in geo-UGC data conflict with traditional approaches that only focus on places with similar spatial extents. In this paper, we advocate considering spatial hierarchy when determining place boundaries. We propose the Hierarchical Place Detector (HPD), a framework that composes noise detection, spatial hierarchy reconstruction, and boundary extraction, to rebuild the boundaries and spatial hierarchy of places from geo-UGC. The HPD is a state-of-the-art framework for determining and organizing place boundaries by the spatial hierarchy, thereby preserving morphology and geographical relationships among places. The hierarchical boundaries could be fundamental analytical units in various downstream applications, including spatial visualization, geographical information retrieval, navigation services, and spatial interaction modelling.

BackgroundChinese handwriting has a close relationship with spatial cognition, and the legibility dimension is prominent with its spatial-oriented characteristics. However, handwriting evaluation focusing on the detailed spatial aspects of the legibility dimension in the Chinese context is rare.Aims and methodsWe aimed to develop a Chinese Handwriting Legibility Scale (CHLS) and examine its reliability, validity, and measurement invariance among Chinese primary students of different grades. A total of 684 students aged 8–12 years were recruited from a mainstream primary school in central China and were asked to copy a Chinese template as legibly as possible within 4 min. The developed CHLS was used to assess these students’ legibility performance.ResultsThe seven-criteria CHLS favored content validity. The inter-rater reliability was good; however, the scoring instructions need to be refined. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed a one-factor solution explaining 62.336% of the variance of the seven-criteria CHLS, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) confirmed its appropriateness. There was a high internal consistency (α = 0.902). In terms of measurement invariance, the factor structures and loadings of the CHLS were consistent across students of different grades; however, significant intercept variations were detected between students of Grades 2 and 4.ConclusionCHLS may be effective for evaluating Chinese handwriting legibility performance in the Chinese primary school context in the central region. Students’ Chinese handwriting legibility performance may have developmental specificity in different grades.

The activational effects of sex hormones on spatial ability have been well documented. It has been suggested that these effects might be related to hormonally induced changes in interhemispheric communication. In this EEG study, we opted to explore menstrual cycle-related changes in the efficacy of solving mental rotation tasks and laterality indices while participants were engaged with the tasks. We compared 2D and 3D mental rotation tasks, as they differ both psychometrically and in terms of lateralization. A group (n = 39) of healthy young women was tested twice, once during the mid-luteal (high estrogen and progesterone) and once during the early follicular (low levels of sex hormones) phase of menstrual cycle. The differences in power within the same frequency band on homologous sites of the left and right hemispheres were then calculated. Participants were faster, more accurate, and showed higher laterality scores when solving 3D mental rotation tasks in the early follicular phase compared to the mid-luteal phase. This indicates a higher lateralization of this specific spatial function when the levels of sex hormones are low. However, for 2D mental rotation tasks, participants showed neither shifts in efficacy nor in hemispheric laterality as a function of the menstrual cycle. This pattern of results provides further support for the notion that fluctuations in sex hormones affect laterality, and consequently, the expression of lateralized cognitive abilities.

Attentional orienting is a crucial process in perceiving our environment and guiding human behavior. Recent studies have suggested a forward attentional bias, where faster reactions are observed to spatial cues indicating information appearing in the forward rather than the rear direction. This study investigated how the body position affects attentional orienting, using a modified version of the Posner cueing task within a virtual reality environment. Participants, seated at a 90° angle or reclined at 45°, followed arrows directing their attention to one of four spatial positions where a spaceship will appear, visible either through transparent windows (front space) or in mirrors (rear space). Their task was to promptly identify the spaceship’s color as red or blue. The results indicate that participants reacted more swiftly when the cue correctly indicated the target’s location (valid cues) and when targets appeared in the front rather than the rear. Moreover, the “validity effect”—the advantage of valid over invalid cues—on early eye movements, varied based on both the participant’s body position and the target’s location (front or rear). These findings suggest that the body position may modulate the forward attentional bias, highlighting its relevance in attentional orienting. This study’s implications are further discussed within contexts like aviation and space exploration, emphasizing the necessity for precise and swift responses to stimuli across diverse spatial environments.

Spatial cognition plays a crucial role in academic achievement, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) domains. Immersive virtual environments (VRs) have the growing potential to reduce cognitive load and improve spatial reasoning. However, traditional methods struggle to assess the mental effort required for visuospatial processes due to the difficulty in verbalizing actions and other limitations in self-reported evaluations. In this neuroergonomics study, we aimed to capture the neural activity associated with cognitive workload during visuospatial tasks and evaluate the impact of the visualization medium on visuospatial task performance. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) wearable neuroimaging to assess cognitive effort during spatial-reasoning-based problem-solving and compared a VR, a computer screen, and a physical real-world task presentation. Our results reveal a higher neural efficiency in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during 3D geometry puzzles in VR settings compared to the settings in the physical world and on the computer screen. VR appears to reduce the visuospatial task load by facilitating spatial visualization and providing visual cues. This makes it a valuable tool for spatial cognition training, especially for beginners. Additionally, our multimodal approach allows for progressively increasing task complexity, maintaining a challenge throughout training. This study underscores the potential of VR in developing spatial skills and highlights the value of comparing brain data and human interaction across different training settings.

Spatial navigation is supported by visual cues (e.g., scenes, schemas like arrows, and words) that must be comprehended quickly to facilitate effective transit. People comprehend spatial directions faster from schemas and words than scenes. We hypothesize that this occurs because schemas and words efficiently engage space-based attention, allowing for less costly computations. Here, participants completed a spatial cueing paradigm, and we calculated cue validity effects – how much faster participants responded to validly than invalidly cued locations – for each cue format. We pre-registered Experiment 1 and found significant cue validity effects with schemas and words, but not scenes, suggesting space-based attention was allocated more efficiently with schemas and words than scenes. In Experiment 2, we explicitly instructed participants to interpret the scenes from an egocentric perspective and found that this instruction manipulation still did not result in a significant cue validity effect with scenes. In Experiment 3, we investigated whether the differential effects between conditions were due to costly computations to extract spatial direction and found that increasing cue duration had no influence. In Experiment 4, significant cue validity effects were observed for orthogonal but not non-orthogonal spatial directions, suggesting space-based attention was allocated more efficiently when the spatial direction precisely matched the target location. These findings confirm our hypothesis that efficient allocation of space-based attention is guided by faster spatial direction comprehension. Altogether, this work suggests that schemas and words may be more effective supports than scenes for navigation performance in the real-world.

Spatial thinking skills are associated with performance, persistence, and achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) school subjects. Because STEM knowledge and skills are integral to developing a well-trained workforce within and beyond STEM, spatial skills have become a major focus of cognitive, developmental, and educational research. However, these efforts are greatly hampered by the current lack of access to reliable, valid, and well-normed spatial tests. Although there are hundreds of spatial tests, they are often hard to access and use, and information about their psychometric properties is frequently lacking. Additional problems include (1) substantial disagreement about what different spatial tests measure—even two tests with similar names may measure very different constructs; (2) the inability to measure some STEM-relevant spatial skills by any existing tests; and (3) many tests only being available for specific age groups. The first part of this report delineates these problems, as documented in a series of structured and open-ended interviews and surveys with colleagues. The second part outlines a roadmap for addressing the problems. We present possibilities for developing shared testing systems that would allow researchers to test many participants through the internet. We discuss technological innovations, such as virtual reality, which could facilitate the testing of navigation and other spatial skills. Developing a bank of testing resources will empower researchers and educators to explore and support spatial thinking in their disciplines, as well as drive the development of a comprehensive and coherent theoretical understanding of spatial thinking.

Numerous studies have shown that the emotional wellbeing of urban populations is influenced by various aspects of urban development, such as social factors and the presence of walkable areas and green spaces. However, there is a lack of research that closely integrates urban design and cognition, particularly in the context of vertical and volumetric urbanism. This disconnect between design and science disciplines is evident when reviewing the limited research on emotional and spatial cognition in this specific urban context. This paper seeks to address that disconnect by proposing a comprehensive framework for the cognitive measurement and modelling of the built environment. This will involve exploring and measuring neural mechanisms, employing electroencephalogram (EEG) equipment to measure user responses in vertical and volumetric public spaces. The aim is to create a foundation for further studies in this field that is consistent and rigorous and can facilitate collaboration with cognitive neuroscientists by establishing a shared conceptual basis. The goal of this research is to develop a human-centric approach for urban design that is scientific and measurable, producing a set of urban design guidelines that incorporate cognitive measurement and modelling, with the broader intention to prioritize human needs and wellbeing within urban environments to make them more liveable.

(1) Background: Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a common chronic dizziness disorder with an unclear pathophysiology. It is hypothesized that PPPD may involve disrupted spatial cognition processes as a core feature. (2) Methods: A cohort of 19 PPPD patients underwent psycho-cognitive testing, including assessments for anxiety, depression, memory, attention, planning, and executive functions, with an emphasis on spatial navigation via a virtual Morris water maze. These patients were compared with 12 healthy controls and 20 individuals with other vestibular disorders but without PPPD. Vestibular function was evaluated using video head impulse testing and vestibular evoked myogenic potentials, while brain magnetic resonance imaging was used to exclude confounding pathology. (3) Results: PPPD patients demonstrated unique impairments in allocentric spatial navigation (as evidenced by the virtual Morris water maze) and in other high-demand visuospatial cognitive tasks that involve executive functions and planning, such as the Towers of London and Trail Making B tests. A factor analysis highlighted spatial navigation and advanced visuospatial functions as being central to PPPD, with a strong correlation to symptom severity. (4) Conclusions: PPPD may broadly impair higher cognitive functions, especially in spatial cognition. We discuss a disruption in the creation of enriched cognitive spatial maps as a possible pathophysiology for PPPD.

Depressive emotion (DE) refers to clinically relevant depressive symptoms without meeting the diagnostic criteria for depression. Studies have demonstrated that DE can cause spatial cognition impairment. However, the brain network mechanisms underlying DE interference spatial cognition remain unclear. This study aimed to reveal the differences in brain network connections between DE and healthy control (HC) groups during resting state and a spatial cognition task. The longer operation time of the DE group during spatial cognition task indicated DE interference spatial cognition. In the resting state stage, the DE group had weaker network connections in theta and alpha bands than the HC group had. Specifically, the electrodes in parietal regions were hubs of the differential networks, which are related to spatial attention. Moreover, in docking task stages, the left frontoparietal network connections in delta, beta, and gamma bands were stronger in the DE group than those of the HC group. The enhanced left frontoparietal connections in the DE group may be related to brain resource reorganization to compensate for spatial cognition decline and ensure the completion of spatial cognition tasks. Thus, these findings might provide new insights into the neural mechanisms of depressive emotion interference spatial cognition.

Including geometric spatial cues in an environment can help reverse the difficulties with spatial navigation experienced by children and older adults.

Background: Spatial ability (SA) shows wide variability. One proposed explanation for the observed individual difference in SA is variability in interest and engagement in activities that promote spatial ability. Research also robustly shown that males on average outperform females in most aspects of SA. Previous studies have identified a number of activities that can potentially contribute to both individual and gender differences in SA, including tinkering with electronics, particular sports activities, and designing. However, the findings regarding these links are inconsistent. One way to investigate these links is to compare the groups that are intensively engaged with these activities. Aim: The present study aims to evaluate the robustness of these links by comparing SA in adolescents with expertise in STEM, arts, and sports, with their unselected peers. We also aimed to assess whether gender differences in SA are still present in expert groups. Methods: The data on ten small-scale SA tests was collected in an unselected sample of adolescents (N = 864, Mean age = 15.4, SD = 1.1); as well as in 3 samples of adolescents with expertise in STEM (N = 667, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2); in Arts (N = 280, Mean age = 15, SD = 1.2) and in Sports (N = 444, Mean age = 14.3, SD = 0.7). Results: Out of the three expert groups, only STEM experts on average outperformed the unselected group on all SA tasks. The STEM experts also outperformed Arts and Sports experts. Gender differences persisted in all expert groups, with moderate effect sizes. Discussion: Findings support previously established links between spatial ability and STEM-related expertise. In contrast, such links were not found for expertise in arts and sports. Consistent with previous research, we found gender differences in SA for all samples, which persisted in STEM experts.

Human spatial cognition has been mainly characterized in terms of egocentric (body-centered) and allocentric (world-centered) wayfinding behavior. It was hypothesized that allocentric spatial coding, as a special high-level cognitive ability, develops later and deteriorates earlier than the egocentric one throughout lifetime. We challenged this hypothesis by testing the use of landmarks versus geometric cues in a cohort of 96 deeply phenotyped participants, who physically navigated an equiangular Y maze, surrounded by landmarks or an anisotropic one. The results show that an apparent allocentric deficit in children and aged navigators is caused specifically by difficulties in using landmarks for navigation while introducing a geometric polarization of space made these participants as efficient allocentric navigators as young adults. This finding suggests that allocentric behavior relies on two dissociable sensory processing systems that are differentially affected by human aging. Whereas landmark processing follows an inverted-U dependence on age, spatial geometry processing is conserved, highlighting its potential in improving navigation performance across the lifespan.

We sought to understand how the perception of personal space is influenced by different levels of social density, spatial density, and type of window-view in South Korean and United Kingdom workplaces. We employed virtual reality to simulate shared and single occupancy offices. We obtained personal space estimations using a virtual disc around the participant which could be extended and retracted, inside the simulation, to indicate perceived amount of personal space, and compared this measure to questionnaire-based estimations. We found that in both cultures participants experienced greater perceived personal space (1) when in a sparse rather than dense office and (2) having a view of the city outside the office. However, British, but not Korean, participants had significantly higher personal space estimations in single occupancy offices than in shared offices. These results suggest subtle cross-cultural differences in workplace experience, that could only be investigated using virtual reality.

Social experiences can shape adult behavior and cognition. Here, we use El Abra swordtails (Xiphophorus nigrensis) to assess how life-long experience with different male mating tactics shapes coercion evasion ability and female spatial cognition. We raised females from birth to adulthood in environments that varied by male mating tactic: coercers only, courtship displayers only, coercers and displayers together, mixed-strategists, and female only. In adulthood, we tested females’ behavioral responses to a coercive male and spatial cognition in a maze. Females reared with only displayers were significantly worse at distancing themselves from the coercive male than females raised with coercers and displayers and females raised with only coercers. Females raised with a single mating tactic (either courtship display or coercion) exhibited significantly higher accuracy in the spatial maze than females from other rearing groups, and showed significant reduction in total errors (courtship display group) or latency to reward (coercion group) over successive trials. These more predictable environments (one tactic), and not the more complex environments (two tactics), showed evidence for spatial learning. The results are discussed in light of the existing literature on two components of environmental change (environmental predictability and the certainty with which cues predict the best behavioral response) and their effect on the development of cognitive abilities.

Modern-day is defined as a period of globalization, a complex construct that can pose a threat to maintaining the uniqueness of a place and creating a distinctive city identity. The hypothesis of this paper is that, while the phenomenon of globalization is researched within different disciplines, a common interdisciplinary theme stands out - the experience and perception of urban space that further builds a unique impression of the observed scene. The assumption will be investigated through the formation of a qualitative model for examining the urban potential with the aim of affirming the visual quality of the place as an important factor in the construction of local identity. The established model is examined through case studies of the 20th-century heritage. This period was chosen because it represents the subject of a contemporary global discussion about the conservation, activation and use of heritage in urban structures. The premise is that the qualitative model can be adequately applied to architecture from this period and contribute to its visibility and understanding, as well as to the examination of its role in the creation of contemporary local identity. The research is significant because it enables an interdisciplinary consideration of heritage as a key factor in building the modern city identity based on its visual impression.

Extensive studies in rodents show that place cells in the hippocampus have firing patterns that are highly correlated with the animal's location in the environment and are organized in layers of increasing field sizes or scales along its dorsoventral axis. In this study, we use a spatial cognition model to show that different field sizes could be exploited to adapt the place cell representation to different environments according to their size and complexity. Specifically, we provide an in-depth analysis of how to distribute place cell fields according to the obstacles in cluttered environments to optimize learning time and path optimality during goal-oriented spatial navigation tasks. The analysis uses a reinforcement learning (RL) model that assumes that place cells allow encoding the state. While previous studies have suggested exploiting different field sizes to represent areas requiring different spatial resolutions, our work analyzes specific distributions that adapt the representation to the environment, activating larger fields in open areas and smaller fields near goals and subgoals (e.g., obstacle corners). In addition to assessing how the multi-scale representation may be exploited in spatial navigation tasks, our analysis and results suggest place cell representations that can impact the robotics field by reducing the total number of cells for path planning without compromising the quality of the paths learned.

IntroductionThe ecological assessment and the analysis of spatial organization behaviors, like the organization of objects in an empty space, in clinical and neurotypical conditions, is crucial. The Enhanced-Baking Tray Task (E-BTT) is as simple as that – placing objects inside a frame as evenly as possible, as if they were “cookies” to be baked in the oven. The E-BTT is the enhanced version of a task for neglect assessment, the Baking Tray Task, and has the advantage to register the coordinates of each object and their temporal order, meaning that it is easy to reconstruct the sequence of their placement. This sequence could be further analyzed, and, in this paper, we aim to do that with a series of indexes. Moreover, since they investigate the visual search organization of the sequence itself, their validity will be tested with a convergent measure of subjective organization.MethodsTherefore, we asked 100 observers (76 women) to evaluate the subjective organization of each of 97 E-BTT plots, on a scale that ranged from 0 = not at all to 100 = well organized.ResultsA multiple regression model showed a significant association between subjective organization ratings (dependent variable) and Intersection rate, Total time of performance and distance to both optimal sequences (independent variables).DiscussionTherefore the above-mentioned indexes can be considered measures of the overall organization in the E-BTT.