利用黑白呈現，沒有任何可作為landmark物體之virtual maze，來檢驗男性與女性在執行egocentric navigation之能力差異〈受試者任務是找到迷宮唯一出口〉。
1. 依變項是走出迷宮所需的時間，以及在其中所犯下的錯誤次數，得到的結果發現有sex& trial main effect。解迷宮有時間限制，若未在時限內走出，則該次紀錄以時限為記。文中並未提及有多少比例的次數是落在此種情況下〈難道都沒有？〉，這樣的設計是否是為排除極端值，亦或是為其他理由？若今日女性發生此種情況的比例比男性高出很多時，這樣的設計是不是會讓data與沒有時間限制情況下所收集到的data有很大的差異？
2. 本研究針對egocentric navigation skill，但在使用VE的情況下並沒有提供proprioception& kinesthetic sensations〈對提供方向感和距離概念很重要〉，僅提供optic flow，這大概算是這類VE的缺點吧，另外有一文〈Humans do not switch between path knowledge and landmarks when learning a new environment, Foo et al, 2007〉裡面所使用的工具讓受試者能夠真正在VE環境中移動，應該可算是克服這項困難。另外，對於allocentric navigation而言，proprioception& kinesthetic sensations是否也佔有或多或少的重要性呢？
3. 本實驗中受試者的VE表現和傳統spatial task表現有顯著關聯，這是表示傳統spatial task便能讓我們得知個體navigate的真正能力？或是操作這類VE與傳統spatial task所需要的能力相差不多？那VE到底能夠告訴我們真實navigate skill的多少呢？
4. 關於性別差異，這應該是一項很明顯的差異，不過在2002年的研究中，有提到該群受試者的表現並無性別差異〈雖然這不是該研究的重點〉，這令人蠻好奇的，為何在vMWM看不出性別差異，難道性別差異只存在於egocentric navigation，而不存在於allocentric navigation？但事實上好像也不是這樣……
1 comment:
1. Please provide the link, or at least the name of the journal of where the target article was published. This way it would be easier for readers to find the reference if they'd like to. Here for this article you can find its abstract from this link. You should be able to put this link in one of the blank when you write your comments.
2. Regarding the way maze solving time was recorded, yes if there is no time limit, the differences in performance between groups, if any, will be greater. But from Figure 2 you can see the mean RT of female subjects was about 135 seconds, and the variation wasn't too big. The authors must have estimated the mean RT in pilot experiments and set the time limit accordingly. It's not likely female participants would had have a significant amount of trials they couldn't finish in time.
3. Regarding the influence of kinesthetic sensations, you can check out the following article:
Lövdén, M., Schellenbach, M., Grossmann-Hutter, B., Krüger, A., & Lindenberger, U. (2005).
Environmental topography and postural control demands shape aging-associated decrements in
spatial navigation performance. Psychology and Aging, 20, 683-694.
4. The relationship between spatial navigation in VE and conventional spatial task is an interesting one, and how much does performance in VE correlate with actual navigation skill is another interesting question. You should be able to dig out literature regarding each issue.
5. It has been proposed that sex differences in spatial navigation are revealed in large and small scale spatial navigation. In large scale spatial navigation, allocentric representation is important, whereas in small scale egocentric is important. Here is another reference speaking to this issue:
Gron G, Wunderlich AP, Spitzer M, et al. Brain activation during human navigation: gender-different neural networks as substrate of performance. NATURE NEUROSCIENCE 3 (4): 404-408 APR 2000
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