Biology subjects

Bird, L.-A.

Publications and source records attributed to Bird, L.-A..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2021

Meta-strategy learning in physical problem-solving: the effect of embodied experience

Embodied cognition suggests that our bodily experiences broadly shape our cognitive capabilities. We study how embodied experience affects the abstract physical problem-solving strategies people use in a virtual task where embodiment does not affect action capabilities. We compare how groups with different embodied experience - 25 children and 35 adults with congenital limb differences versus 45 children and 40 adults born with two hands - perform this task, and find that while there is no difference in overall competence, the groups use different cognitive strategies to find solutions. People born with limb differences think more before acting, but take fewer attempts to reach solutions. Conversely, development affects the particular actions children use, as well as their persistence with their current strategy. Our findings suggest that while development alters action choices and persistence, differences in embodied experience drive strategic changes in the acquisition of cognitive strategies for balancing acting with thinking. Statement of RelevanceTheories of embodied cognition suggest our cognitive and perceptual capabilities are shaped by how our bodies constrain our interactions with the world; however, these tasks often study short-term effects or setups where body differences impact task solutions. Here we compare the performance of children and adults with and without congenital limb differences (missing hands/upper limbs) on a virtual physical problem-solving task, where both groups had equal motor capabilities for interacting with the world. Across ages, participants with limb differences solved these tasks as proficiently as those without limb differences, but took fewer attempts to come to solutions, with more time spent thinking between attempts. This suggests that early life differences in embodied experience cause changes in individuals "cognitive strategies" for allocating time between thinking and acting.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

A New Sensory Skill Shows Automaticity and Integration Features in Multisensory Interactions

People can learn new sensory skills that augment their perception, such as human echolocation. However, it is not clear to what extent these can become an integral part of the perceptual repertoire. Can they show automatic use, integrated with the other senses, or do they remain cognitively-demanding, cumbersome, and separate? Here, participants learned to judge distance using an echo-like auditory cue. We show that use of this new skill met three key criteria for automaticity and sensory integration: (1) enhancing the speed of perceptual decisions; (2) processing through a non-verbal route and (3) integration with vision in an efficient, Bayes-like manner. We also show some limits following short training: integration was less-than-optimal, and there was no mandatory fusion of signals. These results demonstrate key ways in which new sensory skills can become automatic and integrated, and suggest that sensory augmentation systems may have benefits beyond current applications for sensory loss.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

An Adaptive Cue Selection Model of Allocentric Spatial Reorientation

After becoming disoriented, an organism must use the local environment to reorient and recover vectors to important locations. Debates over how this happens have been extensive. A new theory, Adaptive Combination, suggests that the information from different spatial cues are combined with Bayesian efficiency. To test this further, we modified the standard reorientation paradigm to be more amenable to Bayesian cue combination analyses while still requiring reorientation, still requiring participants to recall goal locations from memory, and focusing on situations that require the use of the allocentric (world-based; not egocentric) frame. 12 adults and 20 children at 5-7 years old were asked to recall locations in a virtual environment after a disorientation. They could use either a pair of landmarks at the North and South, a pair at the East and West, or both. Results were not consistent with Adaptive Combination. Instead, they are consistent with the use of the most useful (nearest) single landmark in isolation. We term this Adaptive Selection. Experiment 2 suggests that adults also use the Adaptive Selection method when they are not disoriented but still required to use a local allocentric frame. This suggests that the process of recalling a location in the allocentric frame is typically guided by the single most useful landmark, rather than a Bayesian combination of landmarks - regardless of whether the use of the allocentric frame is forced by disorientation or another method. These failures to benefit from a Bayesian strategy accord with the broad idea that there are important limits to Bayesian theories of the cognition, particularly for complex tasks such as allocentric recall.

neuroscience↗