Inter-individual variability (but intra-individual stability) of overt versus covert rehearsal strategies in a digital Corsi task.

The Corsi (block-tapping) paradigm is a classic and well-established visuospatial working memory task in humans involving internal computations (memorizing of item sequences, organizing and updating the memorandum, and recall processes), as well as both overt and covert shifts of attention to facilitate rehearsal, serving to maintain the Corsi sequences during the retention phase. Here, we introduce a novel digital version of a Corsi task in which i) the difficulty of the memorandum (using sequence lengths ranging from 3 to 8) was controlled, ii) the execution of overt and/or covert attention as well as the visuospatial working memory load during the retention phase was manipulated, and iii) shifts of attention were quantified in all experimental phases. With this, we present behavioral data that demonstrate, characterize, and classify the individual effects of overt and covert strategies used as a means of encoding and rehearsal.

Interaction between image and text during the process of biblical art reception.

In our exploratory study, we ask how naive observers, without a distinct religious background, approach biblical art that combines image and text. For this purpose, we choose the book 'New biblical figures of the Old and New Testament' published in 1569 as source of the stimuli. This book belongs to the genre of illustrated Bibles, which were very popular during the Reformation.

The perception of ego-motion change in environments with varying depth: Interaction of stereo and optic flow.

When estimating ego-motion in environments (e.g., tunnels, streets) with varying depth, human subjects confuse ego-acceleration with environment narrowing and ego-deceleration with environment widening.

Modality dependence and intermodal transfer in the Corsi Spatial Sequence Task: Screen vs. Floor.

Four versions of the Corsi Spatial Sequence Task (CSST) were tested in a complete within-subject design, investigating whether participants' performance depends on the modality of task presentation and reproduction that put different demands on spatial processing. Presentation of the sequence (encoding phase) and the reproduction (recall phase) were each carried out either on a computer screen or on the floor of a room, involving actual walking in the recall phase. Combinations of the two different encoding and recall procedures result in the modality conditions Screen-Screen, Screen-Floor, Floor-Screen, and Floor-Floor.

How to Best Name a Place? Facilitation and Inhibition of Route Learning Due to Descriptive and Arbitrary Location Labels.

Establishing verbal memory traces for non-verbal stimuli was reported to facilitate or inhibit memory for the non-verbal stimuli. We show that these effects are also observed in a domain not indicated before-wayfinding. Fifty-three participants followed a guided route in a virtual environment.

Allocation of cognitive resources in comparative visual search--individual and task dependent effects.

Behaviors recruit multiple, mutually substitutable types of cognitive resources (e.g., data acquisition and memorization in comparative visual search), and the allocation of resources is performed in a cost-optimizing way.

View-based organization and interplay of spatial working and long-term memories.

Space perception provides egocentric, oriented views of the environment from which working and long-term memories are constructed. "Allocentric" (i.e.

Gaze movements and spatial working memory in collision avoidance: a traffic intersection task.

Street crossing under traffic is an everyday activity including collision detection as well as avoidance of objects in the path of motion. Such tasks demand extraction and representation of spatio-temporal information about relevant obstacles in an optimized format. Relevant task information is extracted visually by the use of gaze movements and represented in spatial working memory.

Gaze patterns predicting successful collision avoidance in patients with homonymous visual field defects.

Aim of the present study was to identify efficient compensatory gaze patterns applied by patients with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) under virtual reality (VR) conditions in a dynamic collision avoidance task. Thirty patients with HVFDs due to vascular brain lesions and 30 normal subjects performed a collision avoidance task with moving objects at an intersection under two difficulty levels. Based on their performance (i.

The neural correlates of impaired collision avoidance in hemianopic patients.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the brain regions associated with impaired performance in a virtual, dynamic collision avoidance task, in a group of patients with homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) because of unilateral vascular brain lesions.

Methods: Overall task performance was quantitatively assessed as the number of collisions while crossing an intersection at two levels of traffic density. Twenty-six patients were divided into two subgroups using the median split method: patients with 'performance above average' (HVFD(A), i.

Collision avoidance in persons with homonymous visual field defects under virtual reality conditions.

The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) on collision avoidance of dynamic obstacles at an intersection under virtual reality (VR) conditions. Overall performance was quantitatively assessed as the number of collisions at a virtual intersection at two difficulty levels. HVFDs were assessed by binocular semi-automated kinetic perimetry within the 90° visual field, stimulus III4e and the area of sparing within the affected hemifield (A-SPAR in deg(2)) was calculated.

Acquisition vs. memorization trade-offs are modulated by walking distance and pattern complexity in a large-scale copying paradigm.

In a "block-copying paradigm", subjects were required to copy a configuration of colored blocks from a model area to a distant work area, using additional blocks provided at an equally distant resource area. Experimental conditions varied between the inter-area separation (walking distance) and the complexity of the block patterns to be copied. Two major behavioral strategies were identified: in the memory-intensive strategy, subjects memorize large parts of the pattern and rebuild them without intermediate visits at the model area.

Task-dependent representation of moving objects within working memory in obstacle avoidance.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was the quantitative analysis of the working memory representation of dynamic objects related to gaze movement behavior.

Methods: Eighteen subjects participated in a virtual street-crossing paradigm. The primary task was collisions avoidance.

Functional compensation of visual field deficits in hemianopic patients under the influence of different task demands.

We investigated the task-specific role of eye and head movements as a compensatory strategy in patients with homonymous visual field deficits (HVFDs) and in age-matched normal controls. All participants were tested in two tasks, i.e.

The pupillary light reflex pathway: cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps in hemianopic patients.

Objective: The anatomy of the human pupillary light reflex (PLR) pathway is a matter of debate. The aim of this study was twofold: namely, to investigate the association of a relative afferent pupillary defect (RAPD) in acquired suprageniculate lesions with the location and extent of the cerebral lesions. Further, we suggest a new strategy of lesion analysis by combining established techniques with the stereotaxic probabilistic cytoarchitectonic atlas developed by the Jülich group.

Head and eye movements and the role of memory limitations in a visual search paradigm.

The image information guiding visual behavior is acquired and maintained in an interplay of gaze shifts and visual short-term memory (VSTM). If storage capacity of VSTM is exhausted, gaze shifts can be used to regain information not currently represented in memory. By varying the separation between relevant image regions, S.

Assessment of vision-related quality of life in patients with homonymous visual field defects.

Background And Purpose: Homonymous visual field defects (HVFDs) are among the most common disorders that occur in the elderly after vascular brain damage and can have a major impact on quality of life (QOL). Aims of this study were to describe the vision-targeted, health-related QOL in patients with HVFDs after cerebrovascular lesion, and to determine the relationship between patients' self-reported difficulties and the characteristics of HVFDs in the binocular visual field.

Methods: The German version of the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) was used.