空間認知

Another new line of research in Phil's lab is spatial navigation in humans, either in the context of walking or driving. Spatial navigation is a crucial abilityin our daily lives, and because of such importance, it is not surprising that failures in navigation (being lost in places) is often the first obvious sign or symptom of dementia that alerts people to seek clinical help. To successfully navigate, external spatial information such as coordinates (absolute location) or landmarks (relative location), as well as internal sensory (proprioceptive) information such as visual flow or vestibular input have to be integrated to compute one's position and to maintain orientation. In the past decade, studies have begun to uncover a link between working memory capacity and one's sense of direction. However, the literature also has many mixed reports regarding the role of working memory in spatial navigation and wayfinding capability. In this line of research we aim to fill this gap by taking one's frame of reference, an important navigational representation that the literature has not explored much, into account to dissociate the role of visuospatial and verbal working memory involvements in allocentric and egocentric navigational strategies, respectively.

The purpose of this project is twofold: 1) to investigate the interaction between working memory capacity (visual vs. verbal) and frame of reference (egocentric vs. allocentric) that determines human's spatial cognition and navigational ability, and 2) improve poor navigators's wayfinidng ability by helping them shift to a more optimal/suitable frame of reference, or by using noninvasive brain stimulation such as tDCS or tACS.

Please check out our papers below:

Lo, Y. H., Chiu, A., & Tseng, P. (2023). Driving frequency modulates correlations between executive functions and driving performance: a driving simulator study. Perceptual and motor skills, 130(6), 2410-2429. [PDF]

Tseng, P., Lathrop, W. B., Sison, J. A., & Juarez, C. (2017). U.S. Patent No. 9,618,354. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. [PDF]