How useful are landmarks when learning a route in a virtual environment? Evidence from typical development and Williams syndrome
How useful are landmarks when learning a route in a virtual environment? Evidence from typical development and Williams syndrome
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DOI：
10.1016/j.jecp.2011.10.009
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发表时间：
2012-04-01
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Blades, Mark
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Farran, Emily K.;Courbois, Yannick;Blades, Mark
在19名患有威廉姆斯综合征（WS）的年龄较大的儿童和成人以及40名6-9岁的典型发育（TD）儿童中评估了通过虚拟环境学习路线的能力。除了比较各组之间的路线学习能力，我们感兴趣的是，参与者是否表现出成人般的区分“有用”和“不太有用”的地标学习路线时，地标位置与地标身份的相对显着性。每个虚拟环境由一个有六个路口的砖墙迷宫组成。迷宫中有16个路标，其中一半在正确的路径上，一半在错误的路径上。结果表明，两组都可以学习每一条路线，达到标准（两次成功完成一条路线，没有错误）。在学习阶段，WS组比TD组产生更多的错误，需要更长的时间才能达到标准。这主要是由于大量的持续性错误（即，在连续的学习试验中在同一选择点上所犯的错误）。我们认为，这反映了一个困难，在抑制错误的反应在WS。在测试阶段，TD组表现出更强的回忆地标附近的路口（更有用的地标）比地标沿着路径部分（不太有用的地标）独立于每个人的非语言能力的水平。这种模式在WS组中也很明显，但与非语言成熟水平有关：随着WS参与者非语言能力的增加，回忆路口和路径地标之间的差异也增加。总体而言，结果表明，WS的个人可以学习路线，但这种能力的发展是非典型的。(C)2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The ability to learn a route through a virtual environment was assessed in 19 older children and adults with Williams syndrome (WS) and 40 typically developing (TD) children aged 6-9 years. In addition to comparing route-learning ability across groups, we were interested in whether participants show an adult-like differentiation between "useful" and "less useful" landmarks when learning a route and the relative salience of landmark position versus landmark identity. Each virtual environment consisted of a brick wall maze with six junctions. There were 16 landmarks in the maze, half of which were on the correct path and half on incorrect paths. Results showed that both groups could learn each route to criterion (two successful completions of a route without error). During the learning phase, the WS group produced more errors than the TD group and took longer to reach criterion. This was predominantly due to the large number of perseverative errors (i.e., errors that were made at the same choice point on consecutive learning trials) made by the WS group relative to the TD children. We suggest that this reflects a difficulty in inhibiting erroneous responses in WS. During the test phase, the TD group showed stronger recall of landmarks adjacent to junctions (more useful landmarks) than of landmarks along path sections (less useful landmarks) independent of each individual's level of nonverbal ability. This pattern was also evident in the WS group but was related to level of nonverbal maturation: the differentiation between recall of junction and path landmarks increased as nonverbal ability increased across WS participants. Overall, the results demonstrate that individuals with WS can learn a route but that the development of this ability is atypical. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.