Browsing by Subject "Spatial ability"
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Item Effect of gis learning on spatial ability(Texas A&M University, 2006-08-16) Lee, Jong WonThis research used a spatial skills test and cognitive-mapping test to examine the effect of GIS learning on the spatial ability and spatial problem solving of college students. A total of 80 participants, undergraduate students at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- spatial skills tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Analysis of changes in the students?? test scores revealed that GIS learning could help students improve their spatial ability. Strong correlations existed between the participants?? spatial ability and their performance in the GIS course. The research also found that spatial ability improvement linked to GIS learning was not significantly related to differences in gender or to academic major (geography majors vs. science and engineering majors). A total of 64 participants, recruited from students enrolled in Introduction to GIS and Computer Cartography at Texas A&M University, completed pre- and post- cognitive-mapping tests administered during the 2003 fall semester. Students?? performance on the cognitive-mapping test was used to measure their spatial problem solving. The study assumed that the analysis of the individual map-drawing strategies would reveal information about the cognitive processes participants used to solve their spatial tasks. The participants were requested to draw a map that could help their best friends find their way to three nearby commercial locations. The map-drawing process was videotaped in order to allow the researcher to classify subjects?? map-drawing strategies. The study identified two distinctive map-drawing strategies: hierarchical and regional. Strategies were classified as hierarchical when subjects began by drawing the main road network across the entire map, and as regional when they completed mapping sub-areas before moving on to another sub-area. After completion of a GIS course, a significant number of participants (about half) changed their map-drawing strategies. However, more research is necessary to address why these changes in strategy came about.Item Post-spatial disorientation letter cancellation test performance after video game exposure(2012-08) Banda, Jacob; Hsiang, Simon M.; Patterson, Patrick E.; Smith, James L.While spatial disorientation (SD) may cause anywhere from 25% to 33% of all aircraft mishaps, the limited availability of training programs and devices to combat SD is often a problem that arises due to their complexity and cost. As a result, finding alternative means of providing similar training could be of great benefit. Literature shows the powerful influence of the visual system on vestibular sensations and thus orientation. In addition, the fact that spatial disorientation impairs cognitive function and that habituation is helpful in protecting against spatial disorientation has been established. However, habituation gained from flying may be lost after a brief period away from flight, thus a different method of obtaining habituation is desirable. The goal of this research study was to evaluate the effects of video game experience on performance in a letter cancellation test after spatial disorientation. To determine these effects, experienced and inexperienced game players were assigned to either game playing or observing conditions. All subjects took a letter cancellation test at rest and after experiencing a coriolis illusion before and after five days of video game exposure. Test scores and time to completion served as performance measurements. Although the data was not significant and failed normality and variance homogeneity requirements, results revealed time and score tradeoff trends that suggest video game exposure may have beneficial effects for post disorientation performance. Major findings included 1) that the disorienting stimulus had a lesser effect on the performance of subjects with gaming experience than on subjects who were inexperienced 2) inexperienced subjects benefited from game exposure more than experienced subjects 3) the magnitude of the effect of game exposure on players was less than it was for observers.Item SPATIAL ABILITY AND RELATED SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS: SEX, COLLEGE MAJOR, AND NATIVE LANGUAGE(2010-12) Li, Yingli; O'Boyle, Michael; McCarty, Michael; Feng, DuThe present dissertation focused on preferred strategies during spatial performance, and specifically investigated how sex, college major and native language are related to the strategies used during the Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotation Test (the MRT, 1978). The present dissertation involves three studies. In Study I, the mental rotation (MR) strategies used by a group of monolingual native English speakers were examined as a function of their sex and college major via the use of a behavioral dual-task paradigm (i.e., the participants are required to process MR problems while maintaining a verbal or spatial concurrent memory load). In Study II, electroencephalography (EEG) was used to further investigate brain activation patterns among monolingual native English speakers when performing the MRT. Study III used a comparable design to that of Study I to investigate whether monolingual native Chinese speakers and Chinese-English bilinguals would show a stronger tendency towards using a holistic strategy in MRT performance as compared to native monolingual English speakers. The findings from the three studies indicate that for monolingual native English speakers, MR strategies varied according to sex and college major, with physical science males using a holistic strategy and social science males using an analytic strategy. Females, regardless of their college majors, employed a combined strategy. Monolingual native Chinese speakers were found to be highly consistent on MRT accuracy, showing no significant main effect of sex or college major. Moreover, monolingual Chinese speakers in social science used a combined MR strategy, while monolingual Chinese speakers in physical science used either a combined or a holistic strategy. This consistent tendency in MR performance of native Chinese speakers is argued as evidence of the influence of long-term usage of a native logographic language on spatial ability. Chinese-English bilinguals did not show an advantage on the MRT as compared to other language groups, and their strategy preferences were similar to those of monolingual native English speakers. This similarity is argued to be due to the influence of using English as a primary language when living in an English-speaking environment.Item Spatial ability in high school geometry students(2011-08) Brudigam, Kristin Lea; Crawford, Richard H.; Petrosino, Anthony J.; Marshall, JillThe purpose of this study was to observe the differences in high school PreAP Geometry students in regards to spatial ability. The hypothesis states that students who are enrolled in both high school PreAP Geometry and Introduction to Engineering Design have better spatial ability skills than those students who are solely enrolled in PreAP Geometry. Of the 207 students enrolled in geometry at the test school, there was a smaller population (n = 57) simultaneously enrolled in an engineering graphics course at the high school. No direct or special intervention was given to either group of students. Near the end of the academic year, all students were administered the Purdue Visualization of Rotations Test (ROT). Results showed that students enrolled in the engineering design class performed better than those students not enrolled in the course. Furthermore, the males outperformed the females when all students were considered. However, there was not a significant difference among the males, nor was there a difference between males and females enrolled in engineering. Further research is needed to understand these differences and how geometry education plays a role in the development of spatial ability skills.Item Spatial ability in navigation: can working memory and map complexity explain individual differences?(Texas Tech University, 2002-12) Holder, EricThere is evidence that map information is often stored as a mental image (Rossano, Warren, & Kenan, 1995). Although many map navigation tasks should demand both memory and processing functions (the critical elements of working memory), little evidence exists of any attempts to use measures of working memory to explain performance variance in map navigation tasks (see review by Shah & Miyake, 1999). There has been much evidence in the literature that the working memory system involves functions separate from short-term memory (storage), has a general processing component (central executive), and may possibly include "specialized" components with specific roles for meeting task demands (Baddeley & Hitch, 1994; Salway & Logic, 1995). The current project consisted of a series of experiments utilizing a map navigation paradigm designed to tease out the unique contributions of short-term memory and working memory, as well examine the possible contribution of domain-specific processing capacity to spatial navigation. The results demonstrated that participants had difficulties with maps that were misaligned in respect to the orientation of the person and environment (especially those misaligned 180 degrees). Misaligned maps required additional processing resources that were provided by the working memory system. There was evidence of the involvement of both general and spatial-specific processing resources of the working memory system. The involvement of spatial-specific processing resources was found only in the most difficult map conditions. Short-term spatial memory (storage) was found to serve a significant role in map navigation for easy map conditions and when processing resources were occupied by a secondary task. Participants also demonstrated an ability to adapt to the map task, basing their strategies on the available landmarks and experimental constraints.Item The curious case of the cane toad (Rhinella marina): An assessment of exploratory behavior and foraging success of an invasive vertebrate in a novel environment(2012-08) Arner, Amanda; Bernal, Ximena E.; Strauss, Richard E.; Page, Rachel A.An individual’s ability to modify its behavior as a result of experience is a key component of successful survival in a changing environment. This ability has been studied in many taxa including vertebrates (e.g. mammals, birds and fish) and invertebrates (e.g. insects and cephalopods), however little conclusive evidence exists for learning in anuran species. Much of the research previously done in this area was constrained by unsuccessful attempts to develop an experimental paradigm that provided evidence in support of learning in these taxa. The research outlined in this thesis synthesizes laboratory and field designs to provide a new approach to studying learning abilities in anurans, pertaining to exploration and foraging behavior on an individual scale. The cane toad, Rhinella marina, is an ideal study species to determine the role of learning in anurans. Its well-known invasive capabilities and colonization of new environments suggest that cane toads are experts at modifying their behavior based on changes in the environment. By studying how exploratory behavior in a novel environment is modulated by experience, we can make inferences about the spatial learning abilities of this species. To examine the potential role of learning in invasive potential we conducted similar studies with cane toads from populations in both the native and invasive ranges. To further provide evidence for learning in anurans we asked the same questions about a congeneric species of toad from the native range with differing life history strategies, the leaf litter toad (Rhinella alata). For cane toads in both the native and invasive ranges, individuals were repeatedly tested in an exploratory arena in one of two treatments, with or without food present. After initial training in the arena toads were tested to determine if movement and behavioral strategies changed over time, as experience with the arena increased. Toads were given five trials each, with a sixth trial to tease apart the use of associative learning or spatial cues for foraging behavior. The smaller leaf litter toads were tested in an arena scaled to size based on their locomotor ability, and were tested with food in the arena for five total trials. Cane toads from both the native and invasive ranges showed a decrease in movement and exploration over time, regardless of treatment group. Individuals in the experimental treatment (food in bowls) ate more mealworms over time while still decreasing overall movement. Leaf litter toads did not show any significant trends in either foraging or exploratory behavior while in the arena, though a large proportion of the individuals successfully learned to eat the novel food item used for feeding before and during trials. Our results indicate that cane toad behavior is modulated by experience with a novel environment and by the presence of food. This study ultimately emphasizes the role of learning in foraging in cane toads, a characteristic that may have facilitated their success as invaders.