Virtual 'Forest' Used To Measure Navigation Skills

The study, conducted by researchers from the Lions Vision Center, Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., involved varying the study participants’ visual field of view and recording several performance measures such as walking time and path efficiency. Participants were then identified as either “good navigators” or “poor navigators.” The results suggest that poor navigators rely on visual information to solve the task while good navigators are able to use visual information in conjunction with an internal representation of the environment. As a result of these differences, the performance of the poor navigators improved more than the performance of the good navigators as the amount of available visual information increased.

“By simulating peripheral visual field losses during navigation, we were able to create a paradigm that systematically controls the amount of external visual information available to participants. This allows us to directly test the extent to which participants rely on this type of information, and identify those individuals who are able to rely on alternative sources of information to learn about their environments,” said lead researcher Francesca Fortenbaugh, BS. “Knowing what types of information individuals use when navigating and how performance deteriorates when that information is removed is important not only for understanding human navigation in general, but also for the development of rehabilitation protocols for individuals with visual impairments.”

You can read this article online and view movies in Journal of Vision at http://www.journalofvision.org/6/5/3/. Journal of Vision is published by ARVO, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. All articles are free and open to anyone.

Established in 1928, The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc. (ARVO) is a membership organization of more than 11,300 eye and vision researchers from over 70 countries. The Association encourages and assists its members and others in research, training, publication and dissemination of knowledge in vision and ophthalmology. ARVO’s headquarters are located in Rockville, Md. The Association’s Web site is www.arvo.org.