Comparative studies of spatial cognition and decision making

我研究动物与环境有效互动的基本认知过程。我的研究计划的重点之一是空间认知，即找到并导航到重要地方的能力，这对所有移动的有机体都很重要。比较研究揭示了一套丰富的通用和专门的机制，这些机制允许包括人类在内的各种动物记住并导航到家和食物地点等地方。我和我的学生增加了关于空间认知的各个方面的知识，从蚂蚁到人类的各种物种都有空间认知。我们提出了两条新的人类和鸟类空间研究路线。一组拟议的实验将调查在封闭环境中使用表面高度来重新定向(重新获得方向感)。这些研究对评价重定向理论很重要，因为根据一些理论，身高应该是一个显著的重定向线索，而另一些理论则不是。另一组研究将调查来自多个地标的信息是如何整合的，以确定在哪里进行搜索。我们将使用线索冲突测试来确定基于加权平均的线索整合是否比其他模型更适合搜索行为。我们还将调查不同类型的可靠性(例如，位置有多稳定，或食物实际可用的频率有多高)如何改变给予地标的权重。

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.