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Psychological memory tests have traditionally relied on paper-based methods. However, the emergence of virtual reality tools, including adaptations of animal lab tests, has opened up new possibilities for evaluating and enhancing attention and memory processes. The impact of virtual environments on spatial memory remains a topic of ongoing debate. To contribute to this discussion, we conducted a comprehensive study with two primary objectives. Firstly, we aimed to develop a virtual reality tool that could effectively assess search strategies in gamers within virtual environments. To achieve this, we designed a virtual water maze inspired by those used in animal research. Secondly, we conducted a cross-sectional study involving participants to analyze how spatial memory strategies evolve in a virtual environment with increasing gaming experience. The results revealed that participants with more gaming experience exhibited faster and more precise learning in the virtual water maze, along with improved search strategies. Additionally, our study allowed for the evaluation of our software and enabled us to track changes in the efficacy of learning strategies. Overall, this study emphasizes the potential of virtual environments for both evaluation and cognitive stimulation purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vertebrates use geometric and featural information for spatial navigation. When both geometric and featural cues are available, animals can use a variety of spatial strategies based on this information. To examine the nature of these strategies, we manipulated the spatial relationship between a conspicuous cue and the position of the goal when goldfish (Carassius auratus) were searching for the exit of a rectangular environment with one distinctive wall. Two groups of fish were used, one with the distinctive wall close to the goal and the other with the distinctive wall on the other end of the enclosure. Results showed that fish encoded featural and geometric information in both conditions but the spatial relationship between the goal and the distinctive wall influences the characteristics of the encoding of the spatial cues and the strategy used to locate the goal. These results suggest that fish in both procedures use the local featural cues associated with the goal instead of the whole set of spatial cues as previous studies propose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]