Prior research indicates that spatial skills, such as Mental Rotation Skills (MRS), are a strong predictor for mathematics achievement. Other studies have shown that MRS can be improved through training. This paper explores whether a well-known puzzle-oriented tool for building houses with 3D cubes is effective in improving performance in a standardized MRS measure that recorded accuracy and speed. The field experiment took place with 85 year seven (11-12 yr olds) pupils from an independent secondary school in the south of England. We used two conditions in the experiment, with the puzzle-oriented training tool being the intervention condition. The findings show there was a significant effect for accuracy but not for speed. Contrary to prior research our findings did not show any gender effects. The findings and implications are discussed in light of the existing literature around spatial skills.

Visuospatial navigation problems represent a significant challenge to quality of life in older adults. We have previously shown that, in a virtual honeycomb-shaped maze (in which participants face numerous sequential Left/Right junctions; honeycomb free-movement pattern [FMP] Y-maze), younger individuals (18-40) typically adopt a strategy of alternating their turns at successive junctions, while those aged >= 70 show significantly fewer alternations, potentially due to diminished visuospatial working memory. However, reduced alternation could also reflect decreased exploratory drive in older adults, characterized by diminished intrinsic motivation to engage with novel environments. Here, we explored whether alternation patterns reflect working memory processes, hypothesizing that reductions in alternation among older adults may be linked to spatial working memory deficits. To test this, we first measured visuospatial working memory using the Corsi block tapping test and found a strong positive correlation between Corsi performance and alternation in the honeycomb FMP Y-maze, providing direct empirical support that alternation is working memory-dependent. We also found a significant negative correlation between Corsi and repetition, suggesting that repetition is a lower-demand alternative to alternation. We then introduced distal cues to facilitate orientation, and showed participants a map of the maze to help familiarize them with the environment. Distal cues were intended to reduce memory load by providing clear orientation markers, whereas the map was designed to increase exploratory drive by enhancing participants' spatial confidence. When provided with distal cues, older adults increased their sequential alternations, whereas the map condition did not have the same effect. These findings suggest that spatial memory limitations in older adults affect navigational choices, with alternation being a memory-dependent strategy and repetition potentially offering a lower-effort alternative. This could have implications for designing environments to enhance independence in older adults and in the design of cognitive tests for spatial working memory.

Visuospatial working memory (VSWM) is crucial for navigating complex environments and is known to decline with ageing. The Free-Movement Pattern (FMP) Y-maze, used in animal studies, provides a robust paradigm for assessing VSWM via analyses of individual differences in repeated alternating sequences of left (L) and right (R) responses (LRLR, etc.), the predominant search pattern in many species. Previous human studies have used a honeycomb-shaped maze, designed for continuous search and trajectory-based navigation, and have shown ageing-related decline in performance of alternating responses. To date, there has been no examination of responses in the closed Y-maze in humans, faithfully replicating the discrete arm entry conditions of animal experiments. Experiment 1 replicated results observed in the honeycomb Y-maze: younger participants (18-40 years) displayed higher levels of alternating turns (LRLR/RLRL), while older participants (70 + years) exhibited predominantly sequential repetitive responses (i.e. LLLL/RRRR). Experiment 2 demonstrated that alternations reflect VSWM. Specifically, there was a significant correlation between proportion of alternating responses and higher scores on the digital Corsi test, a validated measure of VSWM. When alternating responses were reinforced in Experiment 3, older participants still alternated less and repeated more than younger participants. These findings suggest that age-related declines in VSWM underpin the repetitive search patterns observed in older adults. By faithfully replicating the conditions of animal studies, the closed FMP Y-maze offers a simple, scalable tool for assessing VSWM in humans. Its design is particularly suited for gamification, enhancing motivation, reducing stress, and personalizing interventions to improve performance in older populations.

According to the regulatory model of nostalgia, the emotion is triggered by adverse psychological and physical experiences. Nostalgia, in turn, serves to counter those negative states. We extend this model to encompass spatial anxiety, that is, apprehension and disorientation during environmental navigation. In Experiment 1, we induced spatial anxiety by training participants to navigate a route in a virtual maze and then surreptitiously changing part of the previously learned route (spatial-anxiety condition) or leaving the route unchanged (neutral condition). Consistent with the regulatory model, spatial anxiety (compared to the neutral condition) triggered nostalgia. In Experiments 2–3, we displayed nostalgic (nostalgia condition) or matched control (control condition) pictures on the walls of a virtual maze. Participants navigated the maze passively (video clip, Experiment 2) or actively (computer-based task, Experiment 3) and then reported their spatial anxiety. Supporting the regulatory model, nostalgia (compared to control) reduced spatial anxiety (Experiments 2–3) and this, in turn, predicted higher goal setting (Experiment 3). Nostalgia assuages spatial anxiety during environmental navigation.

Decision-making in animals often involves choosing actions while navigating the environment, a process markedly different from static decision paradigms commonly studied in laboratory settings. Even in decision-making assays in which animals can freely locomote, decision outcomes are often interpreted as happening at single points in space and single moments in time, a simplification that potentially glosses over important spatiotemporal dynamics. We investigated locomotor decision-making in Drosophila melanogaster in Y-shaped mazes, measuring the extent to which their future choices could be predicted through space and time. We demonstrate that turn-decisions can be reliably predicted from flies' locomotor dynamics, with distinct predictability phases emerging as flies progress through maze regions. We show that these predictability dynamics are not merely the result of maze geometry or wall-following tendencies, but instead reflect the capacity of flies to move in ways that depend on sustained locomotor signatures, suggesting an active, working memory-like process. Additionally, we demonstrate that fly mutants known to have sensory and information-processing deficits exhibit altered spatial predictability patterns, highlighting the role of visual, mechanosensory, and dopaminergic signaling in locomotor decision-making. Finally, highlighting the broad applicability of our analyses, we generalize our findings to other species and tasks. We show that human participants in a virtual Y-maze exhibited similar decision predictability dynamics as flies. This study advances our understanding of decision-making processes, emphasizing the importance of spatial and temporal dynamics of locomotor behavior in the lead-up to discrete choice outcomes.

Three experiments examined whether three factors (view of external targets, colored wall cues, previous exploration of room) facilitate orientation within a virtual building and whether the interaction between the first two factors align with predictions from associative learning. Participants were teleported into a virtual room and asked to face in the direction of an external occluded target using all, none, or a combination of these factors. Experiment 1 (n = 62) showed all 3 factors individually improved orientation. Experiment 2 (n = 28) illustrated that the interaction between external targets and colored wall cues was similar to an associative learning phenomenon, where more salient cues inhibit learning about less salient cues (called overshadowing). Previous research suggests salience of spatial cues can be moderated by familiarity with the cues. In both Experiment 1 and 2, participants were familiar with the external targets but not the colored wall cues. Experiment 3 (n = 92) manipulated familiarity with the external targets and found that when participants were not familiar with the external targets, they became overshadowed by colored wall cues. The results are a novel demonstration that spatial cues within a nested environment interact in a way predicted by associative learning.

Background Emerging literature shows that nostalgia induced by autobiographical reflection and music confers psychological benefits to people living with dementia. Objective Our objective was to test the potential benefits of nostalgic landmarks for people living with Alzheimer's disease. Methods We displayed the landmarks as wall-mounted pictures within a virtual environment. In Experiment 1, we developed the nostalgia manipulation by using pictures associated with the decade during which participants lived most of their childhood. To examine the effectiveness, tolerability, and safety of this pictorial nostalgia induction, we conducted the experiment with 172 healthy adults. In Experiment 2, we recruited 20 participants living with Alzheimer's disease who experienced mild to moderate cognitive impairments. We further personalized the pictorial nostalgia induction by interviewing them about fond memories from their past and generating images corresponding to these events. We hypothesized that navigating a virtual environment with wall-mounted nostalgic (compared to control) pictures would confer psychological benefits. Results The nostalgic (versus control) pictures evoked higher levels of momentary nostalgia; the manipulation was successful (Experiments 1 and 2). Compared to control pictures, nostalgic pictures significantly increased self-reported positive (but not negative) affect, self-esteem, self-continuity, social connectedness, and meaning in life (Experiments 1 and 2). Participants in the nostalgia condition (compared to controls) evinced better picture recognition, but not improved spatial memory (Experiment 2). Conclusions Our findings demonstrate that nostalgic landmarks confer psychological benefits and enhance picture recognition among people living with Alzheimer's disease. This work has real-world applications for dementia-friendly design and therapy-related practices.

Salient landmarks enhance route learning. We hypothesised that semantically salient nostalgic landmarks would improve route learning compared to non-nostalgic landmarks. In two experiments, participants learned a route through a computer-generated maze using directional arrows and wall-mounted pictures. On the test trial, the arrows were removed, and participants completed the maze using only the pictures. In the nostalgia condition, pictures were of popular music artists and TV characters from 5 to 10 years ago. In the control condition, they were recent pictures of these same artists and characters. In Experiment 1, in the test trial, participants in the nostalgia condition completed the maze faster than controls. Experiment 2 conceptually replicated these findings and extended them by exploring boundary conditions. Participants had to learn two mazes sequentially. In Maze 1, we placed nostalgic/control landmarks only at non-decision points (whereas we placed them at decision points in Experiment 1). In Maze 2, we placed nostalgic/control landmarks at decision points during acquisition but removed them in the test trial (whereas they were present in the test trial in Experiment 1). In both mazes, participants in the nostalgia (compared to control) condition completed the test trial faster.

Spatial anxiety (i.e., feelings of apprehension and fear about navigating everyday environments) can adversely impact people's ability to reach desired locations and explore unfamiliar places. Prior research has either assessed spatial anxiety as an individual-difference variable or measured it as an outcome, but there are currently no experimental inductions to investigate its causal effects. To address this lacuna, we developed a novel protocol for inducing spatial anxiety within a virtual environment. Participants first learnt a route using directional arrows. Next, we removed the directional arrows and randomly assigned participants to navigate either the same route (n = 22; control condition) or a variation of this route in which we surreptitiously introduced unfamiliar paths and landmarks (n = 22; spatial-anxiety condition). The manipulation successfully induced transient (i.e., state-level) spatial anxiety and task stress but did not significantly reduce task enjoyment. Our findings lay the foundation for an experimental paradigm that will facilitate future work on the causal effects of spatial anxiety in navigational contexts. The experimental task is freely available via the Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/uq4v7/ ).

Optimal navigation strategies might differ in different environments. In a closed environment (such as a corridor in a building) local cues at junctions would be best to learn a route. In an open environment distal cues allow a person to gain overall orientation, essential for identifying shortcuts and new paths. A lack of flexibility in strategy use will result in poor performance when navigating a varied environment. The aim of the current study is to examine how best to elicit flexible use of navigational strategies using a synchronous intervention shown to enhance prosocial behaviour. Sixty-eight undergraduate psychology students were trained to navigate a route through a virtual environment which contained both distal and local cues. They were tested from a novel start position to see if they used local or distal cues. Next participants were exposed to either a synchronous or asynchronous intervention where the experimenter moved either in or out of harmony with the participant. Before returning to the maze, participants were told the benefit of either their original cue-type or the alternative. When participants where re-tested in the maze, those in the synchronous group informed of the alternative cue-type switched more than those in the asynchronous group. This result of enabling more flexible navigation is crucial to the goal of improving spatial skills and the study demonstrates a novel use of synchrony in a spatial task to achieve this aim.

Healthy aging is associated with a decline in memory and executive function, which have both been linked with aberrant dopaminergic signalling. We examined the relationship between cognitive performance and dopamine function of young and aging zebrafish ( Danio rerio ). We revealed age-related decreases in working memory and cognitive flexibility in the Free-Movement Pattern (FMP) Y-maze. An increase in drd5 gene expression in aging adults coincided with a decrease in cognitive performance. Treatment with a D1/D5 receptor agonist (SKF-38393, 35 μM) 30 minutes prior to behavioural assessment resulted in improved working memory in aging zebrafish, but no effect in younger adults. However, an ‘overdosing’ effect caused by agonist treatment resulted in downregulation of dat expression in 6-month old, treated zebrafish. The translational relevance of these findings was tested in humans by analysing exploratory behaviour in young-adult, 18-35-year olds, and aged adults, 70+ year olds, in a virtual FMP Y-maze. Our findings revealed similar age-related decline in working memory. Thus, strongly supporting zebrafish as a translational model of aging and cognitive decline.

This study measured the responses of dogs to signals delivered via hand and voice signals. The study sought to determine whether dogs would display differential stimulus control when switching from a compound stimulus (auditory-visual) cue to presentation of only one of its elements. Twelve dogs performed a target behavior in response to a 2-element compound stimulus composed of a hand (visual modality) signal and a voice (auditory modality) signal. The mean percent correct responses to the visual element (M = 56.5, SD = 20.74) and the auditory element (M = 67.5, SD = 21.57) were both significantly lower than the 85% correct for the compound stimulus, P < 0.017. There was also evidence of a preference for one of the elements of the compound stimulus. The mean percent correct for the more favoured element (M = 77.25, SD = 12.53) was significantly higher than for the less favoured element (M = 46.75, SD = 17.2), P < 0.001. The identity of the favoured element was not consistent across the animals with 75% preferring the auditory element and 25% the visual element. This study contributes to an understanding of factors related to the stimulus control of learned behaviors. The differential control of behavior by alternative cues has implications for the training of assistance or service and other working animals with multiple cues. The results would strongly suggest that training with a compound stimulus is not appropriate if only elements of the compound stimulus are to be subsequently used. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Simple mazes have provided numerous tasks for assessing working memory. The discrete nature of choices in the T-maze has provided a robust protocol with sensitivity to cognitive deficits, whilst the continuous Y-maze reduces manual handling and pre-trial training. We have combined these attributes to develop a new behavioural task for assessing working memory, the Free-movement pattern (FMP) Y-maze. Using sequentially recorded left and right turns we demonstrate that zebrafish and mice use a single dominant strategy predominantly consisting of alternations between left and right choices trial-to-trial. We further tested this protocol with Drosophila and discovered an alternative invertebrate search strategy. Finally, a virtual human FMP Y-maze confirmed a common strategy among all tested vertebrate species, validating the translational power of the task for human research. The FMP Y-maze combines robust investigation of working memory and high translational power, generating a simple task with far-reaching impact.

Numerous neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders are associated with deficits in executive functions such as working memory and cognitive flexibility. Progress in developing effective treatments for disorders may benefit from targeting these cognitive impairments, the success of which is predicated on the development of animal models with validated behavioural assays. Zebrafish offer a promising model for studying complex brain disorders, but tasks assessing executive function are lacking. The Free-movement pattern (FMP) Y-maze combines aspects of the common Y-maze assay, which exploits the inherent motivation of an organism to explore an unknown environment, with analysis based on a series of sequential two-choice discriminations. We validate the task as a measure of working memory and executive function by comparing task performance parameters in adult zebrafish treated with a range of glutamatergic, cholinergic and dopaminergic drugs known to impair working memory and cognitive flexibility. We demonstrate the cross-species validity of the task by assessing performance parameters in adapted versions of the task for mice and Drosophila , and finally a virtual version in humans, and identify remarkable commonalities between vertebrate species’ navigation of the maze. Together, our results demonstrate that the FMP Y-maze is a sensitive assay for assessing working memory and cognitive flexibility across species from invertebrates to humans, providing a simple and widely applicable behavioural assay with exceptional translational relevance.

Previous research suggests that evaluative conditioning(EC) is insensitive to contingency awareness, andinsensitive to extinction and contingency manipulations.Recent studies have tested the generality of these ECresults using physiological (startle reflex) andbehavioural (affective priming) measures of affect ratherthan verbal ratings of liking. The current experimentsused an affective priming measure to extend this programof work. Over four experiments we examined the role ofawareness, the role of contingency, and the phenomena ofcue-competition in evaluative conditioning. Eachexperiment involved subjects experiencing conditionedstimuli (CSs) paired with affectively valenced (positiveand negative) visual images. Subjects then classifiedwords as either positive or negative. Each word waspreceded by presentation of a CS. It was found thatsubjects classified the words faster if the valence ofthe word was the same as that of the immediatelypreceding CS. However, this conditioning effect did notdepend on contingency awareness, was not reduced bycontingency degradation, and there was no evidence ofcue-competition in a blocking procedure that used anovershadowing control.

Spatial learning has been shown to follow associative rules by demonstrations of blocking and overshadowing in both watermazes with rats and virtual watermazes with humans. To examine whether Conditioned Inhibition (CI) can also be demonstrated in a real and virtual watermaze task, two studies were run, one with rats and one with humans. In separate training trials, Beacons A and B marked the position of a platform in quadrant X of circular watermaze (AX + /BX +). In subsequent inhibitory training trials, Beacon A was placed in quadrant Y with no platform present (AY). To test for any CI of Y, in two probe trials B was suspended above either quadrant Y (BY) or novel quadrant Z (BZ). Time spent under B was recorded in both trials. In both animal and human studies, during no platform probe trials, latencies to reach Beacon B were longer and less time was spent under the beacon when it was suspended in quadrant Y, where inhibitory training had previously taken place (AY trials), than when it was hung in the novel quadrant Z. Results suggest that quadrant Y had become a conditioned inhibitor strengthening claims that learning in the spatial domain follows the rules of associative models.

Two experiments examined the interaction of task difficulty and stereotype threat in a spatial orientation task. Having explored the exterior and interior of a virtual building, participants were placed in a room with an external or internal view and asked to face a previously seen but occluded external target cue. In the internal room participants could use spatial updating to track their position in terms of the target cue, and in the external room they could also use the allocentric spatial relationship between the target cue and a visible external cue. Participants performed better in the external room, illustrating spatial updating is more difficult than allocentric array learning. In Experiment 1, participants were informed that they were likely to perform better, worse or the same as members of the opposite sex. Overall males performed better than females, but males given the threat statement performed worst. There was no difference between female groups. Experiment 2a, reduced the difficulty of the task by including internal orienting cues. Females with the orientation cues performed better than females without orientation cues and the same as males. In Experiment 2b, with orientation cues present, there was a significant effect of stereotype threat for both males and females but only in the more difficult internal room trial. The results suggest gender stereotype threats affect spatial orientation but only at an appropriate level of task difficulty.

Three experiments using a spatial orientation task within a computer generated building examined the factors influencing maintenance of orientation to an external reference frame within a nested environment. Having explored a virtual building, participants were asked to point to an occluded external cue from 4 different rooms. Experiment 1 orientation errors were less in external rooms and previously visited internal rooms. To assess importance of guiding instructions, participants in Experiment 2 were shown a video of the building. Again orientation errors were less in previously visited rooms. Participants in Experiment 3 had no experience of the building. Participants shown the video were unable to maintain orientation in the internal visited room. Results suggest that maintaining orientation to an external frame of reference requires either access to an external cue or active exploration. Without previous familiarity passive exposure was not sufficient to maintain orientation within the building.