Research

Individual Differences in Spatial Thinking

Spatial thinking is central to problem solving, decision making, navigating, and forming spatial representations. It is critical to success (i.e., entry and retention) in the STEM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines. However, we may be underestimating the abilities of women in how we measure spatial thinking, which in turn deters women from pursuing STEM careers. Furthermore, spatial thinking is multidimensional with differences seen in the kinds of spatial skills critical to each discipline. For example, different mental spatial transformations require several types of cognitive processes, which are influenced by spatial ability and expertise. Although spatial experts demonstrate superior general spatial ability compared to controls, group differences exist in spatial ability between expert groups. For example, expert geoscientists demonstrate superior abilities in spatial perspective taking (i.e., mental transformation of one’s perspective relative to spatial forms), environmental space (i.e., large-scale space), and penetrative thinking (i.e., spatial reasoning about internal structures based on surface information), but not spatial visualization (i.e., small-scale space). Dancers show differences in performance on judgments of perceived action capabilities as well as superior kinesthetic imagery (i.e., simulating or mentally rehearsing motor movement), but not spatial perspective taking, spatial visualization, or environmental space abilities.

Whitaker, M. M., Pointon, G. D., Tarampi, M. R., & Rand, K. M. (2020). Expertise effects on the perceptual and cognitive tasks of indoor rock climbing. Memory & Cognition, 48(3), 494-510. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-019-00985-7

Tarampi, M. R., Heydari, N., & Hegarty, M. (2016). A Tale of Two Types of Perspective Taking Sex Differences in Spatial Ability. Psychological Science, 27(11), 1507-1516. doi: 0956797616667459.

Tarampi, M. R., Atit, K., Petcovic, H. L., Shipley, T. F. & Hegarty, M. (2016). Spatial Skills in Expert Structural Geologists. In B. Krantz, C. Ormand & B. Freeman (Eds.), 3D Structural Interpretation: Earth, Mind, and Machine (pp. 65-73). AAPG Memoir 111.

Tarampi, M. R., Geuss, M.K., Stefanucci, J.K. & Creem-Regehr, S. H. (2014). A Preliminary Study on the Role of Movement Imagery in Spatial Perception. In C. Freksa, B. Nebel, M. Hegarty, & T. Barkowsky (Eds.), Spatial Cognition IX (pp. 384-396). Berlin: Springer.

Visually Accessible Spaces

Visual accessibility is the use of vision and other aspects of spatial cognition to travel efficiently and safely through an environment, to perceive the spatial layout of key features, and to keep track of one’s location. We examine the problem of object and space perception in individuals with visual deficits, or low vision, who often do not rely on aids to orient and navigate. Instead, they depend on their remaining vision to get around. Although low vision is pervasive in the US, existing building codes do not adequately address the needs of this population. No differences in accuracy for distance judgments under normal and degraded vision conditions suggest that low vision individuals rely on existing visual information in the built environment (i.e., the visible horizon, such as the floor/wall boundary in a room, and ground-contact information) to make accurate space judgments. My current research in this area is investigating the environmental conditions that lead to perceptual errors in low vision individuals.

Creem-Regehr, S. H., Barhorst-Cates, E. M., Tarampi, M. R., Rand, K. M., & Legge, G. E. (2021). How can basic research on spatial cognition enhance the visual accessibility of architecture for people with low vision?. Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications, 6(1), 1-18.

Rand, K. M., Tarampi, M. R., Creem‐Regehr, S. H., & Thompson, W. B. (2012). The Influence of Object Ground Contact on Perception of Distance and Size under Severely Degraded Vision. Seeing and Perceiving, 25(5), 425–447.

Rand, K. M., Tarampi, M. R., Creem-Regehr, S. H., & Thompson, W. B. (2011). The Importance of a Visual Horizon for Distance Judgments under Severely Degraded Vision. Perception, 40(2), 143-154.

Tarampi, M. R., Creem-Regehr, S. H., & Thompson, W. B. (2010). Intact Spatial Updating with Severely Degraded Vision. Attention, Perception, & Psychophysics, 72(1), 23-27.

Crowd Dynamics

In a funded grant through the Department of the Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Dr. Tarampi is part of an interdisciplinary team (with a research ecologist, theoretical physicist, theoretical chemist, and perceptual psychologist) that will explore how numerical models of self-organizing behavior in birds (murmuration) and fish (schooling) can be used to study human crowd dynamics during emergency evacuations. The computer simulations will consider the role of visual perception and the geometry of the environment. We will use complementary approaches and convergent findings to test the numerical models in humans using virtual reality (head mounted displays with motion tracking) and real world tasks.

Lemasson, B.H, Pilkiewicz, K.R., Rowland, M.A., Hein, A., Sun, J., Berdahl, A., Mayo, M.L., Moehlis, J., Porfiri, M., Fernandez-Juricic, E., Garnier, S., Bollt, E.M., Carlson, J., Tarampi, M.R., Macuga, K.L., Rossi, L., & Shen, C.C. (2020). Decoding collective communications from the individual's perspective using Information Theory tools. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 17(164), http://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0563.

Tarampi, M.R., Lemasson, B.H, Macuga, K., Mayo, M.L., & Pilkiewicz, K.R. (2019, April). Identifying the Influences of Visual Perception and Design of the Built Environment on Crowd Dynamics during Emergency Situations. Paper presented at Collective Spatial Cognition Specialist Meeting: Innovative Research about Spatial Thinking by Human Groups, Santa Barbara, CA.