Disoriented animals from ants to humans reorient in accord with the shape of the surrounding surface layout: a behavioral pattern long taken as evidence for sensitivity to layout geometry. Recent computational models suggest, however, that the reorientation process may not depend on geometrical analyses but instead on the matching of brightness contours in 2D images of the environment. Here we test this suggestion by investigating young children's reorientation in enclosed environments. Children reoriented by extremely subtle geometric properties of the 3D (...) layout: bumps and ridges that protruded only slightly off the floor, producing edges with low contrast. Moreover, children failed to reorient by prominent brightness contours in continuous layouts with no distinctive 3D structure. The findings provide evidence that geometric layout representations support children's reorientation. (shrink)

Recent findings indicate that toddlers can use geometric cues to locate an object hidden in a corner of a rectangular room after being disoriented [Cognition 61 (1996) 195]. It has been suggested that locating the object involves reestablishing one's initial heading. The present experiments examine search behavior after disorientation. We find that toddlers go directly to a particular corner, indicating that they do not have to reestablish their original heading. It also has been suggested that toddlers ability to use geometric (...) cues is limited to surrounding spaces. We find that toddlers can locate an object from outside as well as from inside a space, although the task is harder from outside. Based on these results, we argue that while toddlers do not represent their position relative to a particular portion of a space, they nevertheless may represent their position relative to the entire space (i.e., outside vs. inside). (shrink)

Although disoriented young children reorient themselves in relation to the shape of the surrounding surface layout, cognitive accounts of this ability vary. The present paper tests three theories of reorientation: a snapshot theory based on visual image-matching computations, an adaptive combination theory proposing that diverse environmental cues to orientation are weighted according to their experienced reliability, and a modular theory centering on encapsulated computations of the shape of the extended surface layout. Seven experiments test these theories by manipulating four properties (...) of objects placed within a cylindrical space: their size, motion, dimensionality, and distance from the space’s borders. Their findings support the modular theory and suggest that disoriented search behavior centers on two processes: a reorientation process based on the geometry of the 3D surface layout, and a beacon-guidance process based on the local features of objects and surface markings. Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. (shrink)