Comparative studies of spatial cognition and decision making

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I investigate basic cognitive processes that allow animals to interact effectively with their environment. One focus of my research program is spatial cognition, the ability to find and navigate to important places, which is important for all moving organisms. Comparative research has revealed a rich set of general and specialized mechanisms that allow various animals, including humans, to remember and navigate to places such as home and food sites. My students and I have increased knowledge about various aspects of spatial cognition, in a variety of species ranging from ants to humans. We have proposed two new lines of spatial research in humans and birds. One set of proposed experiments will investigate the use of surface height to reorient (regain a sense of direction) in enclosed environments. These studies will be important for evaluating theories of reorientation because height should be a salient reorientation cue according to some theories but not others. Another set of studies will investigate how information from multiple landmarks is integrated to determine where to search. We will use cue conflict tests to determine whether cue integration based on weighted averaging provides a better fit to search behaviour than other models. We will also investigate how different types of reliability (e.g., how stable the location is, or how often food is actually available) alter the weighting given to landmarks.