The construction of egocentric and allocentric spatial representations in visual-spatial working memory in highly immersive virtual reality (CAVE)

Abstract: In solving spatial tasks, neurocognitive egocentric and allocentric spatial representations storing in the visual-spatial working memory. Egocentric representations encode the visual scenes in self-centered coordinates and allocentric representations – in world coordinates regardless of the observer's position. Previously studies showed a good consistency in spatial processing about real environments compared to virtual reality environments. A presentation method was developed for memorizing and reconstructing 3D scenes using the highest immersive CAVE virtual reality system. A space for task, library of objects and virtual scenes were designed, each containing seven virtual objects located in different 3D positions. Three viewpoints were given for reproduction: «the front» viewpoint (to reproduce the memorized scene from the imaginary egocentric position), «the left» and «the above» viewpoints (to reproduce the scene from the left or above imaginary allocentric positions, respectively). The participant had to reconstructed memorized scene in a natural way by choosing objects from the library and placed it in virtual space in accordance with the given imagine viewpoint. The score of object localizations was estimated separately by three parameters — topology, metrics, and depth. The results showed, that for both types of spatial representations schematic topological properties were preserved better in visual-spatial working memory than the exact metric information (especially for the egocentric representations). Overall, the egocentric representations were more effective in the reconstruction of 3D scenes than allocentric representations. It was also found that when using an allocentric representations, the need to add a height axis (vertical rotation) diminishes the effectiveness of the scene reconstruction from visual-spatial working memory, compared to rotations in the horizontal plane. The results suggest that both egocentric representations and allocentric representations can be formed in visual-spatial working memory, but that egocentric representations are more basic in the solution of spatial tasks using visual-spatial working memory. These results not only have theoretical significance in cognitive psychology, but also have the potential for wide practical application in healthcare, education, developmental and sports psychology, human factor research and related interdisciplinary fields.

Keywords: Egocentric Spatial Representations, Allocentric Spatial Representations, Spatial Memory, Visual-Spatial Working Memory, Topology, Metric, Depth, Immersive Virtual Reality

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe1005492

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