The Stages of Processing of One's Environment

• Author / Creator

  Duffels, Brian

• Research on all tested vertebrates indicates that geometric information plays a special role when organisms reorient in their environment. Some researchers have argued that geometric information is processed automatically, while landmark information is processed more slowly. These conclusions of the course of reorientation processing have been drawn from research that tested organisms‘ accuracy in locating targets in experimental environments. However, inferences of the course of processing are not logical extensions of physical reorientation paradigms. To this end, the present research employs the psychological refractory period paradigm to investigate, over two experiments, the precise stages of processing that humans utilize when encoding an environment. The data confirm previous research by demonstrating an underadditive effect of response time across stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) for geometric trials and an additive effect for landmark trials, suggesting that geometric information is processed during the first stage of processing, and landmark information during the second.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • PRP
  • Reorientation
  • Psychological refractory period

• Graduation date

  Spring 2010

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3BH04

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.