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The geometry formed by the walls of a room is known to be a potent cue in reorientation, yet little is known about the use of geometric information gleaned from other contexts. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine neural activity in adults while reorienting in 3 different environments: the typical rectangular walled room, a rectangular configuration of pillars in an open field, and a rectangular floor in an open field. Behavioral response patterns for the 3 environments were similar, but pairwise contrasts of brain activation revealed differences at the neural level. We observed greater medial temporal lobe (MTL) involvement when reorienting with the pillars versus the walls and floor. In addition, the walled room selectively engaged areas of posterior parahippocampal cortex corresponding to the parahippocampal place area, when compared with the floor. Finally, a conjunction analysis of the 3 geometry conditions, compared with a control task, revealed activation in the primary auditory cortex that was common to all geometry conditions. These findings add to growing evidence that adults use verbal processes to encode environment geometry and that the reorientation tasks that young children find difficult are particularly hippocampus-dependent. (Contains 3 tables and 5 figures.)

It is frequently claimed that the human mind is organized in a modular fashion, a hypothesis linked historically, though not inevitably, to the claim that many aspects of the human mind are innately specified. A specific instance of this line of thought is the proposal of an innately specified geometric module for human reorientation. From a massive modularity position, the reorientation module would be one of a large number that organized the mind. From the core knowledge position, the reorientation module is one of five innate and encapsulated modules that can later be supplemented by use of human language. In this paper, we marshall five lines of evidence that cast doubt on the geometric module hypothesis, unfolded in a series of reasons: (1) Language does not play a necessary role in the integration of feature and geometric cues, although it can be helpful. (2) A model of reorientation requires flexibility to explain variable phenomena. (3) Experience matters over short and long periods. (4) Features are used for true reorientation. (5) The nature of geometric information is not as yet clearly specified. In the final section, we review recent theoretical approaches to the known reorientation phenomena. Keywords: Modularity; Adaptive combination; Spatial reorientation; Development; Geometric module DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-6709.2009.01081.x

There is ongoing debate in spatial cognition about the mechanisms by which organisms are able to reorient, or reestablish a position, in the world after losing their bearing. The traditional view is that there is an encapsulated reorientation module that can only process environmental geometry such as distances or angles (Cheng, 1986). Recently, this view has been challenged on the grounds that the reorientation mechanism is only able to accept geometric information and may instead depend on a more general ability to use relative cues. J. Huttenlocher and S. F. Lourenco (2007) demonstrated that toddlers are successfully able to reorient with continuous cues but show remarkable deficits using categorical cues that are similar in perceptual complexity for reorientation. Here, the authors show the same pattern of results with mice (Mus musculus). These findings provide evidence that there is a homologous reorientation mechanism between mice and humans. Thus, future researchers can examine the genetic basis of this important cognitive ability. Keywords: reorientation, geometric module, spatial cognition, adaptive combination, genetics

The bulk of the research in spatial reorientation has studied how visual cues guide behavior. This project aims to explore the role of auditory cues. Using a find-and-replace paradigm in a circular search space, blindfolded sighted participants were able to reorient successfully using only auditory landmarks, albeit with errors larger than those found in visual-based reorientation. Importantly, for the first time, it was found that people encoded an ambiguous cue in addition to the certain cue, even though it was unnecessary and insufficient for solving the task. Results are discussed in the context of the resistance to using auditory cues spontaneously and the theory of functional equivalence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: There are several models of the use of geometric and feature cues in reorientation (Cheng, Huttenlocher, & Newcombe, ). The adaptive combination approach posits that people integrate cues with weights that depend on cue salience and learning, or, when discrepancies are large, they choose between cues based on these variables (Cheng, Shettleworth, Huttenlocher, & Rieser, ; Newcombe & Huttenlocher, ). In a new paradigm designed to evaluate integration and choice, disoriented participants attempted to return to a heading direction, in a trapezoidal enclosure in which feature and geometric cues both unambiguously specified a heading, but later the feature was moved. With discrepancies greater than 90 degrees, participants choose geometry. With smaller discrepancies, integration appeared in three of five situations; otherwise, participants used geometry alone. Variation depended on direction of feature movement and whether the nearest corner was acute or obtuse. The results have implications for contrasting adaptive combination and modularity theory, and for future research, offering a new paradigm for reorientation research, and for testing cue integration more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After becoming disoriented, organisms must re-establish their position in space. The core knowledge position argues that reorientation relies only on extended 3D surfaces, and that this sensitivity operates automatically and is innately present. In contrast, the adaptive combination perspective argues that reorientation is experience-expectant and malleable, and depends on both extended 3D surfaces and 2D feature cues. We test these divergent views by comparing young (Experiment 1) and mature (Experiment 2) C57BL/6 mice ( Mus musculus) that have been housed in circular or rectangular environments. Malleability of feature cues was found for young mice. Malleability of incidental geometry coding was found for both age groups. The relative dependence on geometric and feature cues changed with age. Young mice weighted the feature cue more heavily than adult mice. In summary, as predicted by the adaptive combination approach, rearing environments influenced the relative use of feature and geometric cues in a reorientation task. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 55: 243-255, 2013 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]