Improving students’ creativity in familiar versus unfamiliar mobile-assisted language learning environments

Sleep is important for processing memories and emotions. It is widely assumed that during sleep, particularly during slow-wave sleep (SWS), newly acquired memory traces are spontaneously reactivated, thereby supporting their consolidation and stabilization. Beyond memory traces, the Memories-of-Sleep (MemoSleep-) Hypothesis suggests that cognitive concepts are also reactivated during sleep. The repeated reactivations of these concepts potentially influence sleep quality by either impairing or improving sleep, depending on the particular content of these concepts. However, it remains unclear whether memory reactivations occur primarily during SWS or whether the non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep stage N2 is also involved. Additionally, the exact nature of sleep disturbances induced by unfamiliar environments, particularly over non-consecutive nights, has not yet been fully characterized and explained by the MemoSleep-Hypothesis. Finally, the influence of emotions on sleep within the context of the MemoSleep-Hypothesis remains to be clarified. This dissertation addresses these research gaps through three independent sleep studies. The first study investigated the contribution of memory reactivation during NREM sleep stage N2 compared to SWS. However, no significant difference was found between words that were externally reactivated during N2 and those reactivated during SWS. Moreover, there was no overall memory benefit from targeted memory reactivation (TMR) during sleep. The second study examined sleep disturbances during the first night in an unfamiliar environment, known as the First-Night Effect (FNE), as an example of the reactivation of stressful mental concepts during sleep. The results show that an FNE exists also in non-consecutive nights and even occurs in familiar environments. However, prior familiarization with the recording equipment was found to attenuate the FNE. The third study explored, for the first time, whether musical chords associated with varying emotional ratings can elicit different brain responses during sleep. The results confirmed that the sleeping brain is capable of differentially processing specific musical chords. The results of this dissertation challenge the specific role of SWS in memory reactivation during sleep. Additionally, they demonstrate that unfamiliar sleep environments generally impact sleep quality, however, a habituation occurs even over non-consecutive nights. Finally, these findings pave the way for novel approaches to using emotion-associated musical stimuli to influence activated mental concepts during sleep, providing new knowledge and a foundation for further refinements and future research directions within the framework of the MemoSleep-Hypothesis.

An exploration of the navigational behaviours of people who use wheeled mobility devices in unfamiliar pedestrian environments

Effect of familiar and unfamiliar environments on proximity behavior of young children

The factors that drive partial migration in organisms are not fully understood. Roach (Rutilus rutilus), a freshwater fish, engage in partial migration where parts of populations switch between summer habitats in lakes and winter habitats in connected streams. To test if the partial migration trait is phenotypically plastic or has genetic components, we translocated roach from 2 populations with different opportunities for migration to a lake with migration opportunity, containing a local roach population. This enabled monitoring of partial migration of fish in 3 different situations: 1) previous opportunity for migration, migrating in a familiar environment (the local population); 2) previous opportunity for migration, migrating in an unfamiliar environment; and 3) no previous opportunity for seasonal migration, migrating in an unfamiliar environment. In addition, we evaluated the migration patterns of roach in the lake with migration opportunity wherefrom group 2 fish were translocated. Directional migration in and out of the lakes was monitored using Passive Integrated Transponder technology. Translocated fish with previous migration opportunity showed migration patterns more similar to local fish than to their home lake population, and individuals translocated from the lake without migration opportunity migrated when given the opportunity, suggesting that partial migration is phenotypically plastic and triggered by lake-specific environmental cues. We found temperature to be a proximate cue for migration decisions. Individuals without previous migration opportunity migrated at a lower proportion and with different small-scale migration patterns, suggesting that also genetic components are involved in the expression of the partial migration trait. Copyright 2010, Oxford University Press.

Background Spatial representations of the environment may change as a result of increased familiarity; yet there are few studies about this topic (Evans and Pezdek 1980; Thorndyke and Hayes-Roth 1982). These studies have suggested that familiar environments are represented in an allocentric way, whereas unfamiliar environments in an egocentric way. A representation is egocentric if maintains the perspective under which spatial information has been experienced. This means that access to spatial locations is not equally easy but depends on the relation between the required location and the organism. An allocentric representation is based on frames of reference independent of the organism’s position and centred on objects or environmental features. However, in these studies the factor “familiarity” was confused with the way of exploring the environment (real exploration for familiar participants, maps for unfamiliar participants), and consequently it was difficult to interpret the results unambiguously. Further, there are few studies based on locomotor exploration of real environments and they have shown that unfamiliar environments are represented egocentrically, although salient environmental axes may acquire a certain relevance (Iachini and Logie 2003; McNamara et al. 2003). Overall, in all these studies the patterns of results were interpreted as verifying the “allocentric” or “egocentric” view according to a specific theoretical definition and there was no direct measure of allocentric vs egocentric coding.

The ability to create an accurate mental survey representation, orcognitive map, when moving through an environment varies widely across individuals, and we are still trying to understand the origins of these individual differences. Non-immersive virtual environments used to test for cognitive map accuracy in the laboratory have shown sex differences with a performance advantage for men in some studies but not others. When sex differences are demonstrated, it is unclear whether women’s performance generalizes to familiar and unfamiliar real-world environments. In Experiment 1, 98 participants explored the virtual environment Silcton and afterwards estimated directions between the landmarks in Silcton and arranged landmarks found in Silcton on a map. In addition, they reported frequently visited real-world locations and then estimated directions between them and drew a map of the locations. Men were more accurate on tests of Silcton than women were, although there was no difference between sexes for accuracy with real-world locations. Within sexes, women were more accurate with the real-world locations than Silcton, while men showed the opposite pattern. In Experiment 2, 21 women were tested with Silcton and their familiar real-world locations as in Experiment 1 but were also walked through an unfamiliar real-world area on campus and completed direction estimation and map drawing tests for the new environment. Overall, women were more accurate with the two real-world environments than Silcton, with some evidence that accuracy with the new real-world environment was more accurate than the familiar real-world locations. Overall, women’s ability to create a cognitive map of a virtual environment in the laboratory does not seem to be indicative of their ability to do the same in the real world, and care should be taken when generalizing lab results with virtual environments.

Neural Pattern-Based Reasoning for real-world robot navigation problems is proposed. Based on the concept of Pattern-Based Reasoning, the method enables a mobile robot to solve goal-oriented navigation problems in a remarkably short time with low memory consumption. Given a simple learning environment, the observed input vectors are processed by a Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (SOINN) to generate Spatial Common Patterns (CPs), which are useful in other unfamiliar environments. Performing goal-oriented navigation in unfamiliar environments, with prior information neither of the map nor the goal, the robot recognizes the partial area by referring to the nearest CPs and forming a pattern of CPs called A-Pattern. The sequential A-Patterns are used to derive the map of the environment. This map is optimized based on reasoning, as the new transitions between areas could be generated automatically. The method is evaluated by solving one real-world maze and three Webots simulated mazes. The results show that the proposed method enables the robot to find the markedly shorter path in only one episode, whereas use of the Reinforcement Learning requires more episodes. The map contains more information than the current hybrid map building or topological map. The map does not rely on coordinate, resulting in non-sensitivity to the error in self-pose estimation.

For VR technology, the core goal is to create a sense of reality, so that users can not distinguish between the real world and virtual environment. The purpose of this paper is to study the application of artificial intelligence and VR technology in the display design of clothing stores. First of all, there are four ways of clothing display and display: filling display, eye-catching display, emphasizing display and close display. Secondly, the system structure of VR technology is divided into hardware equipment structure and key technical support. The design of artificial intelligence module and control instruction encryption are studied. Finally, the simulation of the display design environment of the clothing store by the follow-up system under the unfamiliar environment is carried out. The experimental results show that the delay time of 4G environment is shorter than that of WiFi environment. In the same network environment, generally speaking, the worse the quality of image compression, the shorter the delay time. As the quality of the compressed image becomes poor, the corresponding amount of data is also small, and the delay is also short. But the worse the quality of the compressed image is, the more computing resources are consumed, which will cause the delay of the device itself, and when the quality of the compressed image is 40, the delay time is not shorter than 60. The delay times of each test are only 1 to 2 times, and the actual delay time is only 2 seconds, which shows that the robot is more sensitive to the instructions.

Navigation assistance systems have become integral to our daily routines, helping us to find our way through unfamiliar environments. However, their use may come at a price, as empirical evidence suggests a potentially harmful impact of these systems on our spatial abilities, including the acquisition of spatial knowledge. This could be remedied by giving users more freedom and involving them in the decision-making process. Therefore, we present a navigation system that combines augmented reality and Beeline Navigation (BeeAR). Here, the location of the destination is overlaid with a digital landmark and permanently displayed to the user via a visual, translucent AR display (without a map). Since the digital content is integrated into the real world, no mapping between the device and reality is required, potentially lowering the workload. Making one's own decisions along the route is expected to increase engagement with the environment, leading to increased acquisition of spatial knowledge. We compare BeeAR with findings from a previous study comparing Free Choice Navigation (FCN) and Turn-by-Turn (TBT) navigation conducted along the same routes on the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. Although BeeAR and FCN do not provide users with a map, BeeAR users could better retrace the walked route and remembered more points of interest along the route than FCN users. Participants of all three navigation conditions achieved a high configuration similarity between drawn points of interest and their true locations, albeit only one navigation condition included a map.

1. Luis H. Ospina, MD* 1. *Assistant Professor, Pediatric Ophthalmology and Neuro-ophthalmology, Ste-Justine Hospital, University de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Recognize cortical visual impairment (CVI) as an important cause of pediatric visual loss. 2. Identify the most frequent causes of pediatric CVI and, more specifically, understand the role of hypoxia as a cause of central visual damage. 3. Describe the different patterns and implications for future vision of hypoxic central visual damage occurring in preterm compared with term babies. 4. Know the clinical signs suggestive of CVI in children. 5. Discuss the involvement of visual functions other than visual acuity (ie, cognitive visual aspects) in CVI and correlate them with the likely affected neuroanatomic substrates. 6. Explain the value of using a multidisciplinary approach in rehabilitating children who have CVI early in their development. Vision loss caused by central nervous system damage often is referred to as CVI but also may be referred to as cerebral visual impairment or neurologic visual impairment. These terms refer to the fact that the primary defect may not necessarily be limited to the striate (primary visual) cortex and may affect other areas subserving vision, such as the visual associative cortex, optic radiations, and visual attention pathways. Although it is not yet certain which of these three terms best describes the visual deficit, it is clear that use of the label cortical blindness must be abandoned. That term not only evokes negative connotations for the child and the family but is inaccurate because in almost every instance, some degree of residual vision remains, and visual improvement can occur. CVI has become the greatest cause of pediatric visual impairment in developed countries (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) and is becoming increasingly prevalent in developing nations. CVI is a problem of increasing frequency for two primary reasons. First, the progress in neonatal care has resulted in improved survival of …

Orientation within orienteering is dependent on the use of two basic strategies; that is, either a compass or Magnetic-North-based strategy, which relies on the use of one set of information; or the use of a map and landmark-based strategy which relies on the use of at least two sets of information. Walsh and found that, when given the choice, young children use the compass-based strategy when following complex potentially disorientating routes.The efficacy of these two basic orientation strategies was investigated within three different orienteering environments: (1) a familiar known environment; (2) a familiar unknown environment and (3) an unfamiliar unknown environment.Subjects, age range from 9 to 10·5 years, completed an appropriate orienteering route in each of the environments. Individual mini-cassette recorders and tie-pin microphones were used to record data using a ‘think aloud’ technique as subjects followed their selected routes. Transcripts of the taped data produced a total number of uttered statements for each subject within each environment. A qualitative analysis of these statements identified the following groups of statements expressed as percentages of the total number of statements (as reported by Thorndyke and Stasz): (a) Orientation statements; (b) Relocation or error correction statements; (c) Statements about distractions; (d) Self-efficacy statements.There was a higher reported use of the compass-based strategy for orientation within the familiar known environment which supported the earlier findings of Walsh and Martland. Although the percentage of compass-based orientation statements was smaller in the familiar unknown and the unfamiliar unknown environments, there was a pattern in the use of orientation strategies within these two environments. Typically, the compass-based orientation strategy was used for initial orientation at the beginning of the route and at the pre-defined control points along the route, whilst the landmark and map-based strategy was used as a means of maintaining and reinforcing orientation within the route. Relocation statements typically reported an awareness of disorientation and were generally followed by attempts to reorientate. Whilst none of the subjects used relocation statements within the familiar known environment, relocation statements were used within the familiar unknown and the unfamiliar unknown environments.This evidence suggests that both orientation strategies are used in orienteering routes, but that each strategy is used selectively depending on the environment. These findings clearly have implications for the sport of orienteering – particularly the introduction of basic skills to young performers. They support the argument that is essential to introduce the map and compass simultaneously and that relocation and orientation skills should be coached concurrently.

This paper presents an in-depth analysis of drone pilots’ autonomic nervous system responses. The study focuses on the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses elicited during drone flights in familiar and unfamiliar environments. The research uses electrocardiogram (ECG) data to quantify the pilots’ physiological responses. The ECG, a widely used and noninvasive tool, provides valuable insights into heart electrical activity, reflecting the dynamic balance between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This data is crucial in understanding the physiological changes in pilots’ minds in various flight conditions and forms the basis of our analysis. In flights in the known environment, the study observes a predominance of parasympathetic activity, indicative of a relaxed and focused state. It is characterized by a decrease in heart rate, a standard marker of parasympathetic activation. Pilots exhibit a state of calm alertness, which is necessary for precise control and successful navigation. In contrast, on flights in an unknown environment, there is a marked increase in sympathetic activity, as evidenced by the rise in heart rate. This heightened arousal is a typical “fight or flight” response, preparing the pilot for potential challenges or threats in an unfamiliar environment. The study also explores the implications of these findings for drone pilot training and performance optimization. Understanding the physiological responses to various flight conditions can inform targeted interventions to manage stress and enhance performance. For example, stress management techniques such as biofeedback, which helps pilots monitor and control their physiological responses, and mindfulness, which can improve their focus and attention, could be incorporated into training programs to help pilots better regulate their autonomic responses. In conclusion, this article provides novel insights into drone pilots’ sympathetic and parasympathetic responses in various flight environments. The findings underscore the importance of considering drone operation’s physiological and psychological aspects, with significant implications for training, performance, and safety in the rapidly evolving field of drone technology.

As a key support for people’s daily wayfinding, satellite navigation systems generate a considerable amount of by-product tracking data. Such human mobility data offer opportunities for quantitative studies of the link between human mobility and spatial information needs. Here, we propose a methodological framework for causal inference on observational individual-level spatiotemporal mobility data. We demonstrate how this framework enables to isolate and quantify the causal strength of environmental familiarity on reduced supporting navigation information needs. The results reported here show an approximately 9% average treatment effect of familiarity on reduced information needs. We explore the sensitivity of the results to variants of the realization of the causal model in the data analysis, as well as to the impact of environmental and trip-related confounders. This research introduces concepts of causal analysis on observational data to the spatial community, and mobility analytics community in particular. It is one of the first attempts to link causally spatial information needs during wayfinding across familiar and unfamiliar environments and thus advances the methodological toolkit for individual-level spatial causal inference.

The research reported here, represents a navigation system for blinds - a compelling mobile application of wearable computing that would be not only a challenging task from research perspective, but also beneficial for society. The objective of this research is to create a portable, self-contained system that will allow visually impaired individuals to travel through familiar and unfamiliar environments without the assistance of guides. The user can get auditory clues about step-by-step walking guidance to move in an indoor environment. This paper focuses on the navigation design limited to a room and experiments show acceptable in-door accuracy. First portable prototype has been tested on a group of blind children from a training institute in Lahore, Pakistan. The real time experimentation results verify the significance of our designed system.

An integrated public transportation plays an essential role in urban life and leads to a smarter urban mobility. Our paper illustrates an overview of transport navigation services of user mobility, including mobility navigation life cycle, value propositions of user mobility, system architecture of navigation mobility, a specific SOA design approach and an integrated indoor and outdoor navigation case study. The case study seamlessly integrates indoor and outdoor navigation services, which provide users with an optimal route in familiar and unfamiliar environments. We not only describe the overview of user mobility navigation, but also present a complete design approach of user mobility for system reusability and portability.