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1. Variation in spatial concepts: Different frames of reference on different axes

   Benjamin Pitt; Alexandra Carstensen; Edward Gibson; Steven T. Piantadosi (July 2021, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society)

   Tecumseh Fitch; Claus Lamm; Helmut Leder; Kristin Tessmar-Raible (Ed.)

   Spatial language and cognition vary across contexts. In some groups, people tend to use egocentric space (e.g. left, right) to encode the locations of objects, while in other groups, people use allocentric space (e.g. upriver, downriver) to describe the same spatial scene. These different spatial Frames of Reference (FoRs) characterize both the way people talk about spatial relations and the way they think about them, even when they are not using language. These patterns of spatial language and spatial thinking tend to covary, but the root causes of this variation are unclear. Here we propose that this variation in FoR use reflects variation in the spatial discriminability of the relevant spatial continua. In an initial test of this proposal, we compared FoR use across spatial axes that are known to differ in discriminability. In two non-verbal tests, a group of indigenous Bolivians used different FoRs on different spatial axes; on the lateral axis, where egocentric (left-right) discrimination is difficult, their behavior was predominantly allocentric; on the sagittal axis, where egocentric (front-back) discrimination is relatively easy, their behavior was predominantly egocentric. These findings support the spatial discriminability hypothesis, which may explain variation in spatial concepts not only across axes, but also across groups, between individuals, and over development. 

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2. Different reference frames on different axes: Space and language in indigenous Amazonians

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abp9814  

   Pitt, Benjamin; Carstensen, Alexandra; Boni, Isabelle; Piantadosi, Steven T.; Gibson, Edward (November 2022, Science Advances)

   Spatial cognition is central to human behavior, but the way people conceptualize space varies within and across groups for unknown reasons. Here, we found that adults from an indigenous Bolivian group used systematically different spatial reference frames on different axes, according to known differences in their discriminability: In both verbal and nonverbal tests, participants preferred allocentric (i.e., environment-based) space on the left-right axis, where spatial discriminations (like “b” versus “d”) are notoriously difficult, but the same participants preferred egocentric (i.e., body-based) space on the front-back axis, where spatial discrimination is relatively easy. The results (i) establish a relationship between spontaneous spatial language and memory across axes within a single culture, (ii) challenge the claim that each language group has a predominant spatial reference frame at a given scale, and (iii) suggest that spatial thinking and language may both be shaped by spatial discrimination abilities, as they vary across cultures and contexts. 

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3. Flexible spatial memory in children: Different reference frames on different axes

   Pitt, B; S. Aalaei; A. Gopnik (July 2023, Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society)

   M. Goldwater; F. Anggoro; B. Hayes; D Ong (Ed.)

   Spatial cognition is central to human behavior, but the way we conceptualize space varies over development and across cultures. When remembering the locations or movements of nearby objects, educated adults predominantly rely on a body-based spatial reference frame (e.g. to the left), whereas other groups prefer environment-based frames (e.g. toward the road), at least in some contexts. We propose that this varia- tion in spatial thinking partly reflects differences in the abil- ity to reliably discriminate left-right space, an ability that is common only among educated adults. To evaluate this pro- posal, here we tested US children’s spontaneous use of spatial reference frames on two axes. On the front-back axis, where spatial discrimination was relatively high, participants remem- bered object locations and movement directions using a body- based reference frame. On the left-right axis, where their spa- tial discrimination was significantly worse, the same partici- pants preferred environment-based reference frames. This re- versal reveals remarkable flexibility in children’s spontaneous use of spatial reference frames, extends findings in indigenous adults, and clarifies the likely mechanisms underlying spatial cognitive diversity. 

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4. Spatial concepts of number, size, and time in an indigenous culture

   https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abg4141  

   Pitt, Benjamin; Ferrigno, Stephen; Cantlon, Jessica F.; Casasanto, Daniel; Gibson, Edward; Piantadosi, Steven T. (August 2021, Science Advances)

   In industrialized groups, adults implicitly map numbers, time, and size onto space according to cultural practices like reading and counting (e.g., from left to right). Here, we tested the mental mappings of the Tsimane’, an indigenous population with few such cultural practices. Tsimane’ adults spatially arranged number, size, and time stimuli according to their relative magnitudes but showed no directional bias for any domain on any spatial axis; different mappings went in different directions, even in the same participant. These findings challenge claims that people have an innate left-to-right mapping of numbers and that these mappings arise from a domain-general magnitude system. Rather, the direction-specific mappings found in industrialized cultures may originate from direction-agnostic mappings that reflect the correlational structure of the natural world. 

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5. A new psychometric task measuring spatial perspective taking in ambulatory virtual reality

   https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2022.971502  

   He, Chuanxiuyue; Chrastil, Elizabeth R.; Hegarty, Mary (October 2022, Frontiers in Virtual Reality)

   Spatial perspective taking is an essential cognitive ability that enables people to imagine how an object or scene would appear from a perspective different from their current physical viewpoint. This process is fundamental for successful navigation, especially when people utilize navigational aids (e.g., maps) and the information provided is shown from a different perspective. Research on spatial perspective taking is primarily conducted using paper-pencil tasks or computerized figural tasks. However, in daily life, navigation takes place in a three-dimensional (3D) space and involves movement of human bodies through space, and people need to map the perspective indicated by a 2D, top down, external representation to their current 3D surroundings to guide their movements to goal locations. In this study, we developed an immersive viewpoint transformation task (iVTT) using ambulatory virtual reality (VR) technology. In the iVTT, people physically walked to a goal location in a virtual environment, using a first-person perspective, after viewing a map of the same environment from a top-down perspective. Comparing this task with a computerized version of a popular paper-and-pencil perspective taking task (SOT: Spatial Orientation Task), the results indicated that the SOT is highly correlated with angle production error but not distance error in the iVTT. Overall angular error in the iVTT was higher than in the SOT. People utilized intrinsic body axes (front/back axis or left/right axis) similarly in the SOT and the iVTT, although there were some minor differences. These results suggest that the SOT and the iVTT capture common variance and cognitive processes, but are also subject to unique sources of error caused by different cognitive processes. The iVTT provides a new immersive VR paradigm to study perspective taking ability in a space encompassing human bodies, and advances our understanding of perspective taking in the real world. 

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