Human spatial navigation: cognitive maps, sexual dimorphism, and neural substrates

Resumo: O presente artigo descreve uma investigação que avaliou a utilização de ambientes virtuais de aprendizagem colaborativa no processo de construção de conhecimentos sobre ciências da natureza em um grupo de 16 estudantes do terceiro ano do ensino médio de uma escola pública localizada na região metropolitana de Porto Alegre. A pesquisa teve abordagem qualitativa do tipo estudo de caso e os relatos coletados foram analisados por Análise Textual Discursiva (ATD), com categorias emergentes. O ambiente virtual utilizado foi disponibilizado pela empresa Microsoft® na plataforma OneDrive®. Os participantes identificaram contribuições proporcionadas pelo uso do ambiente virtual e da tecnologia em sala de aula, assinalando seus benefícios para o processo educacional. Entre os argumentos encontrados nas respostas dos participantes, estão os seguintes: o aumento da mobilidade proporcionada pelos recursos tecnológicos; a capacidade de a virtualidade possibilitar o surgimento de múltiplos processos de experimentação; a redução da sensação de distanciamento dos educandos entre si, e destes em relação ao professor; a superação dos limites impostos pelo tempo e espaço da sala de aula transmissiva e; a potencialização do questionamento reconstrutivo, à medida que os recursos para a busca de informações ficam à disposição e podem ser prontamente acessados e questionados pelo grupo de colaboração. Como resultado, a investigação permitiu concluir que os participantes reconhecem que a aprendizagem colaborativa em ambientes virtuais possibilita a implementação de uma forma prática de educação pela pesquisa, pois se desenvolve ao longo de um processo que implica interação com fontes de consulta e com grupos de trabalho, abrindo a possibilidade do surgimento de novas compreensões e relações. Palavras-chave: Aprendizagem colaborativa. Ambientes virtuais.

The use of journal clubs and, more recently, case-based discussions in order to stimulate debate among orthopaedic surgeons lies at the heart of orthopaedic training and education. A virtual learning environment can be used as a platform to host virtual journal clubs and case-based discussions. This has many advantages in the current climate of constrained time and diminishing trainee and consultant participation in such activities. The virtual environment model opens up participation and improves access to journal clubs and case-based discussions, provides reusable educational content, establishes an electronic record of participation for individuals, makes use of multimedia material (including clinical imaging and photographs) for discussion, and finally, allows participants to link case-based discussions with relevant papers in the journal club. The Leicester experience highlights the many advantages and some of the potential difficulties in setting up such a virtual system and provides useful guidance for those considering such a system in their own training programme. As a result of the virtual learning environment, trainee participation has increased and there is a trend for increased consultant input in the virtual journal club and case-based discussions. It is likely that the use of virtual environments will expand to encompass newer technological approaches to personal learning and professional development.

We present in this paper researches focused on specification and production of virtual training environments. The use of Virtual Environments (VE) for training is strongly stimulated by important needs of training on sensitive equipment. But the development of such applications is generally done in new projects, where the reusability of existing developments is a major issue. We present here a platform of development, based on internal models that have been designed to achieve this reusability and standardization for the efficient development of new virtual environments. We defined a new generic model named STORM, used to describe reusable behaviors for 3D objects and reusable interactions between those objects or with humans. We also defined a scenario language named LORA, which allow non-computer scientists author various and complex sequences of tasks in a virtual scene. Based on those models, as an industrial validation with Nexter-Group, we have created 20 operational scenarios of maintenance virtual training on military equipments. We are also begining to create collaborative environments, where virtual and real humans have to collaborate to achieve their procedures.

Virtual environments have been widely used in motor neuroscience and rehabilitation, as they afford tight control of sensorimotor conditions and readily afford visual and haptic manipulations. However, typically, studies have only examined performance in the virtual testbeds, without asking how the simplified and controlled movement in the virtual environment compares to behavior in the real world. To test whether performance in the virtual environment was a valid representation of corresponding behavior in the real world, this study compared throwing in a virtual set-up with realistic throwing, where the task parameters were precisely matched. Even though the virtual task only required a horizontal single-joint arm movement, similar to many simplified movement assays in motor neuroscience, throwing accuracy and precision were significantly worse than in the real task that involved all degrees of freedom of the arm; only after 3 practice days did success rate and error reach similar levels. To gain more insight into the structure of the learning process, movement variability was decomposed into deterministic and stochastic contributions. Using the tolerance-noise-covariation decomposition method, distinct stages of learning were revealed: While tolerance was optimized first in both environments, it was higher in the virtual environment, suggesting that more familiarization and exploration was needed in the virtual task. Covariation and noise showed more contributions in the real task, indicating that subjects reached the stage of fine-tuning of variability only in the real task. These results showed that while the tasks were precisely matched, the simplified movements in the virtual environment required more time to become successful. These findings resonate with the reported problems in transfer of therapeutic benefits from virtual to real environments and alert that the use of virtual environments in research and rehabilitation needs more caution.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study compared human performance of the same throwing task in a real and a matched virtual environment. With 3 days' practice, subjects improved significantly faster in the real task, even though the arm and hand movements were more complex. Decomposing variability revealed that performance in the virtual environment, despite its simplified hand movements, required more exploration. Additionally, due to fewer constraints in the real task, subjects could modify the geometry of the solution manifold, by shifting the release position, and thereby simplify the task.

This article explores the methodological foundations of creating a virtual learning environment in “Literature” classes and examines international educational practices in this area. The concept of the virtual environment is analyzed in a broad sense, emphasizing its role in strengthening teacher student interaction, supporting creative activity, and ensuring interactivity. In particular, the experience of foreign countries in effectively organizing literature lessons through digital platforms, multimedia resources, and AI-powered applications is studied. The author argues that the use of virtual environments in teaching literary texts contributes to students’ deeper immersion in the text, the development of aesthetic taste, and the enhancement of critical thinking. Furthermore, the article provides methodological recommendations for literature classes and demonstrates their significance in improving the effectiveness of education.

Through technological advancements, the use of virtual environments (VE) in education and training has increased. One challenge that users face is the task of navigation in virtual environments. This research investigates navigation within a virtual environment and how users utilize different navigational tools. Navigational tools are categorized as either active or passive, based on the type of information that they present. The goal of this study was to determine if there are differences in the ways that users use passive and active navigational tools. This study was conducted by collecting eye fixations and fixation durations while participants used a navigation tool in completing a task in a VE. Results revealed no significant difference between percentage of fixations and fixation durations and future research should investigate the comparison of active and passive navigational tools in more complex virtual environments.

Virtual reality (VR) collaborative manipulation requires a proper understanding of the user’s self, other collaborators, and shared objects in the virtual environment. Users must be aware of the movements of themselves and others to coordinate their actions when they hand over an object or move it together. The awareness of collaboration plays an essential role in virtual environments. However, previous studies have focused on providing awareness only for cooperative manipulation. This study proposes a novel framework for dual awareness that comprehensively manages the state of interactions between multiple users and shared virtual objects and provides distinct sensory cues to distinguish themselves from collaborators. The experimental results showed that participants could easily and quickly collaborate on manipulation using our feedback, and they also answered positively in the subjective evaluation.

The Extended Classroom: Meeting students’ needs using a virtual environment

Durlach et al. (2000) outlined a research program for the use of virtual environments (VEs) to train spatial abilities, and have invited comments. Our perspective is that some of the problems facing researchers in VE navigation, and also perceptual-motor skills, stem from the possibility that psychological processes that underlie navigation and motor skills in real and in virtual environments may be somewhat different. VE users may then have to make use of different strategies and abilities to those that they would normally use to manually manipulate and to navigate around the world. We suggest that such differences may arise because, when performing VE motor skills and navigation, the subject is effectively disembodied.

The automatic generation of direction in natural language, for the location of objects, is an ongoing research area heavily supported by the use of virtual environments (VEs). Important components of spatial language such as the selected reference object, along with specific features related to the situation of the scenario and the user, have to be properly combined in order to create a helpful direction to locate an object within a VE. In this paper we present a scheme, constructed upon literature review and specific empirical data, to link those different elements related to the location of objects, aimed to establish the suitable algorithms for the automatic generation of spatial language in VEs.

The conceptual design review process is a critical cost determining step for complex products such as ground vehicles. The use of virtual environments (VEs) in this process has become increasingly popular with the advancement of 3D visualization technologies. Important to feelings experienced by participants in a VE are two parameters: presence and immersion. Presence is defined as the subjective experience of being in one place while physically being situated in another. Immersion is a state characterized by perceiving oneself to be enveloped by, included in, and interacting in an environment that provides a continuous stream of stimuli. While different virtual reality (VR) devices provide different degrees of presence and immersion, the amount of each is also dependent on the individual. In this paper, a relationship among presence, immersive tendencies of individuals, and design comprehension are explored. Further, a methodology to find the best design review process subject to certain criteria is presented. The results of two experiments involving the CAVE Automatic Virtual Environment CAVE™2 are discussed and evaluated. In one case, the U.S. Army investigates the use of the CAVE as a conceptual design review environment for advanced military vehicles in a comparison test with its present method of concept presentation and review. In a second experiment, CAVE users responded to a survey to determine the potential of VEs to improve design comprehension and immersive tendencies. In both cases, positive presence and immersion results support the idea that VEs offer advantages for conceptual design reviews over more traditional methods.

This paper describes the use of virtual environments in endodontics. The problems associated with capturing the virtual environment by defining and manipulating the geometric shapes of teeth are illustrated. Dentists require ways of interacting with the virtual environment which closely mirror the conditions under which they work. Touch is very important when working in the close confines of the mouth and using instruments within dental cavities. Therefore, the paper reports on experimentation with novel interactive techniques designed to work with the available geometric representations of teeth. These techniques involve combining surface descriptions with force feedback and collision detection, to give the dentist realistic sensations in simulating treatment procedures. Some early experiments with distributed environments are described, with potential for collaboration in mentored training.

The high potential for creating brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) and video games for upper limb rehabilitation has been demonstrated in recent years. In this work, we describe the implementation of a prototype BCI with feedback based on a virtual environment to control the lateral movement of a character by predicting the subject’s motor intention. The electroencephalographic signals were processed employing a Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filter, Common Spatial Patterns (CSP), and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA). Also, a video game was used as a virtual environment, which was written in C# on the Unity3D platform. The test results showed that the prototype implemented based on electroencephalographic signal acquisition has the potential to take on real-time applications such as avatar control or assistive devices, obtaining a maximum control time of 65 s. In addition, it was noticed that the feedback in an interface plays a crucial role, since it helps the person not only to feel motivated, but also to learn how to have a more consistent motor intention and when little calibration data is recorded, the probability that the system makes erroneous predictions increases. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the development as support for people who require some treatment in the form of upper limb motor rehabilitation, and that the use of virtual environments, such as video games, can motivate such people during the rehabilitation processes.

Objetivo. Describir cómo la interacción de habilidades y conocimientos, para desenvolverse en entornos virtuales, generan espacios para el desarrollo de competencias digitales. Metodología. A partir de la revisión documental, el presente estudio se enmarca como una investigación de tipo mixta con un diseño concurrente ya que los datos cualitativos y cuantitativos se recolectaron de manera simultánea. Resultados. Los docentes universitarios que combinan la presencialidad de sus sesiones de aprendizaje y los ambientes virtuales han encontrado nuevas formas de enseñar y aprender a través estos entornos, los cuales proponen innovadoras modalidades de interacción educativa, ayudando también a su labor de docente investigador. Conclusiones. El panorama actual se presenta como un reto para la educación universitaria, por tal razón el docente de educación superior no deber ser esquivo al uso de entornos virtuales; asimismo, al desarrollo de competencias digitales donde ha de combinarse el conocimiento, las habilidades y uso responsable de las TIC.

Chapter 13 The use of virtual environments in perception action research: Grasping the impossible and controlling the improbable