Abstract
To successfully navigate within an environment, individuals have to organize the spatial information in terms of salient landmarks, paths and general layout of the navigational environment. They may differ in the strategy they adopt to orientate themselves, with some individuals preferring to use salient landmarks (landmark spatial style, L-SS), others preferring to plan routes or paths through an egocentric strategy in which landmarks are connected with each other (route spatial style, R-SS) and others still create a global map-like configuration of the environment regardless of their own position in the environment (survey spatial style, S-SS). Here, we assessed whether Field independence (FI), that is the extent to which the individual perceives part of a field as discrete from the surrounding field rather than embedded in the field, predicted the individual’s spatial style. We assessed the individual’s spatial style using the spatial cognitive style test (SCST) and measured FI using the group embedded figure test (GEFT). We found that FI predicted general spatial ability, with a higher level of FI being associated with better performances on the SCST. Also, Field-independent individuals showed a marked preference for an S-SS. These results suggest that a higher level of FI is associated with better performance on higher level spatial tasks (i.e. R-SS and S-SS) that is tasks requiring individuals to restructure the “navigational field” according to the navigational goal. The results also suggest that a higher level of FI makes individuals more prone to use a global and complex map-like representation of the environment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aguirre GK, Esposito MD (1999) Topographical disorientation: a synthesis and taxonomy 1613–1628
Bianchini F et al (2010) Developmental topographical disorientation in a healthy subject. Neuropsychologia 48:1563–1573. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.01.025
Bianchini F, Palermo L, Piccardi L, Incoccia C, Nemmi F, Sabatini U, Guariglia C (2014) Where Am I? A new case of developmental topographical disorientation. J Neuropsychol 8:107–124. doi:10.1111/jnp.12007
Boccia M, Nemmi F, Guariglia C (2014) Neuropsychology of environmental navigation in humans: review and meta-analysis of FMRI studies in healthy participants. Neuropsychol Rev 24:236–251. doi:10.1007/s11065-014-9247-8
Boccia M, Guariglia C, Sabatini U, Nemmi F (2015) Navigating toward a novel environment from a route or survey perspective: neural correlates and context-dependent connectivity. Brain Struct Funct doi:10.1007/s00429-015-1021-z
Boccia M, Piccardi L, Di Marco M, Pizzamiglio L, Guariglia C (2016) Does field independence predict visuo-spatial abilities underpinning human navigation? Behavioural Evidence. Exp Brain Res. doi:10.1007/s00221-016-4682-9
Byrne P, Becker S, Burgess N (2007) Remembering the past and imagining the future: a neural model of spatial memory and imagery. Psychol Rev 114:340–375. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.114.2.340
Ekstrom R, French J, Harman H, Dermen D (1976) Manual for kit of factor-referenced cognitive tests. Princet NJ Educ Test Serv 102:117 doi:10.1073/pnas.0506897102
Ferlazzo F, Piccardi L, Burattini C, Barbalace M, Giannini aM, Bisegna F (2014) Effects of new light sources on task switching and mental rotation performance. J Environ Psychol 39:1–9. doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2014.03.005
Guay R (1977) Purdue spatial visualization tests
Hegarty M, Waller D (2004) A dissociation between mental rotation and perspective-taking spatial abilities. Intelligence 32:175–191. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2003.12.001
Iaria G, Barton JJ (2010) Developmental topographical disorientation: a newly discovered cognitive disorder. Exp Brain Res 206:189–196. doi:10.1007/s00221-010-2256-9
Iaria G, Bogod N, Fox CJ, Barton JJ (2009) Developmental topographical disorientation: case one. Neuropsychologia 47:30–40. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.08.021
Kozhevnikov M, Hegarty M (2001) A dissociation between object manipulation spatial ability and spatial orientation ability. Mem Cognit 29:745–756 doi:10.3758/BF03200477
Lester BD, Dassonville P (2014) The role of the right superior parietal lobule in processing visual context for the establishment of the egocentric reference frame. J Cogn Neurosci 26:2201–2209. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00636
Lugli L, Ragni M, Piccardi L, Nori R (2017) Hypermedia navigation: differences between spatial cognitive styles. Comput Hum Behav 66:191–200. doi:10.1016/j.chb.2016.09.038
Mitolo M, Gardini S, Caffarra P, Ronconi L, Venneri A, Pazzaglia F (2015) Relationship between spatial ability, visuospatial working memory and self-assessed spatial orientation ability: a study in older adults Cognit Process 165–176. doi:10.1007/s10339-015-0647-3
Montello DR (1998) A new framework for understanding the acquisition of spatial knowledge in large-scale environments. vol Spatial and temporal reasoning in geographic information systems. In: Egenhofer MJ, Golledge RG (eds), Oxford University Press, New York
Nemmi F et al (2015) Finding my own way: an fMRI single case study of a subject with developmental topographical disorientation. Neurocase 21:573–583. doi:10.1080/13554794.2014.960424
Nori R, Giusberti F (2006) Predicting cognitive styles from spatial abilities. Am J Psychol 119:67–86. doi:10.2307/20445319
Nori R, Piccardi L (2011) Familiarity and spatial cognitive style: How important are they for spatial representation? Nova Science, New York
Nori R, Mercuri N, Giusberti F, Bensi L, Gambetti E (2009) Influences of gender role socialization and anxiety on spatial cognitive style. Am J Psychol 122:497–505
O’Keefe J, Nadel L (1979) Précis of O’Keefe & Nadel’s The hippocampus as a cognitive map vol 2. doi:10.1017/S0140525X00063949
Oltman PK, Raskin, E, Witkin HA (1971) The group embedded figures test. Palo Alto, California ed. Consulting Psychologists Press
Palermo L et al. (2014) Looking for the compass in a case of developmental topographical disorientation: a behavioral and neuroimaging study. J Clin Exp Neuropsychol 1–18. doi:10.1080/13803395.2014.904843
Pazzaglia F, De Beni R (2001) Strategies of processing spatial information in survey and landmark-centred individuals vol 13. doi:10.1080/09541440125778
Pazzaglia F, Cornoldi C, De Beni R (2000) Differenze individuali nella rappresentazione dello spazio: presentazione di un questionario autovalutativo [Individual differences in spatial representation and in orientation ability: presentation of a self-report questionnaire] Giornale Italiano di Psicologia 3:627–650
Piccardi L, Bianchini F, Iasevoli L, Giannone G, Guariglia C (2011a) Sex differences in a landmark environmental re-orientation task only during the learning phase. Neurosci Lett 503:181–185. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2011.08.031
Piccardi L, Risetti M, Nori R (2011b) Familiarity and environmental representations of a city: a self-report study. Psychol Rep 109:309–326. doi:10.2466/01.13.17.PR0.109.4.309-326
Piccardi L, De Luca M, Nori R, Palermo L, Iachini F, Guariglia C (2016) Navigational style influences eye movement pattern during exploration and learning of an environmental map front. Behav Neurosci 10:140. doi:10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00140
Siegel AW, White SH (1975) The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments, vol 10. Academic Press, Amsterdam
Verde P, Piccardi L, Bianchini F, Trivelloni P, Guariglia C, Tomao E (2013) Gender effects on mental rotation in pilots vs. nonpilots. Aviat Space Environ Med 84:726–729
Walter E, Dassonville P (2011) Activation in a frontoparietal cortical network underlies individual differences in the performance of an embedded figures task PLoS One 6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0020742
Willey CR, Jackson RE (2014) Visual field dependence as a navigational strategy atten. Percept Psychophys 76:1036–1044. doi:10.3758/s13414-014-0639-x
Witkin HA (1967) A cognitive-style approach to cross-cultural research. Int J Psychol 2:233–250. doi:10.1080/00207596708247220
Witkin HA (1977) Cognitive style in personal and cultural adaptation
Witkin HA, Oltman PK, Raskin E, Karp S (1971) A manual for the embedded figures test
Wolbers T, Hegarty M (2010) What determines our navigational abilities? Trends Cogn Sci 14:138–146. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2010.01.001
Wolbers T, Wiener JM (2014) Challenges for identifying the neural mechanisms that support spatial navigation: the impact of spatial scale. Front Hum Neurosci 8:571 doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00571
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boccia, M., Piccardi, L., D’Alessandro, A. et al. Restructuring the navigational field: individual predisposition towards field independence predicts preferred navigational strategy. Exp Brain Res 235, 1741–1748 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-4936-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-017-4936-1