The Cognitive, Behavioural, and Neural Effects of Environmental Complexity During Navigation

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atmire.migration.oldid4866
dc.contributor.advisorIaria, Giuseppe
dc.contributor.authorSlone, Edward
dc.contributor.committeememberPexman, Penny
dc.contributor.committeememberLevy, Richard
dc.date.accessioned2016-09-19T18:23:49Z
dc.date.available2016-09-19T18:23:49Z
dc.date.issued2016
dc.date.submitted2016en
dc.description.abstractA variety of factors combine to determine the outcome of a navigational scenario. Age, sex, and strategy preference, for example, have quantitative and qualitative influences on how an individual is able to find their way in the environment. However, the structure of the environment itself also plays a critical role. Some environments are easier to understand and navigate than others, but it is not always clear why this is the case. The complexity of the environment appears to be an important determinant of navigational success, bur it is notoriously difficult to define and systematically assess its behavioural consequences. In a series of studies, I provide evidence showing that the complexity of the environment not only affects behaviour and cognition, but also activity in several brain regions that are important for navigation. Chapter 2 describes a behavioural study in which participants performed a navigation task in one simple and one complex virtual environment. Navigation in the complex environment was slower and more error prone, and maps drawn of the complex environment were less accurate, suggesting that complexity makes it difficult to form an accurate cognitive map. Chapter 3 describes an experiment in which participants performed the same task while their brain activity was being assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Navigation in the simple environment was associated with increased brain activity in a number of regions, including the precuneus, retrosplenial cortex, hippocampus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Chapter 4 describes a series of functional connectivity analyses that characterized how the different regions of the brain identified in Chapter 3 altered their dynamic functional properties measured during the task and at rest. Together, these studies suggest that complexity exerts a powerful influence over cognition, behaviour, and brain activity during navigation.en_US
dc.identifier.citationSlone, E. (2016). The Cognitive, Behavioural, and Neural Effects of Environmental Complexity During Navigation (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28031en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/28031
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11023/3309
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisher.facultyArts
dc.publisher.facultyGraduate Studies
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.publisher.placeCalgaryen
dc.rightsUniversity of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subjectArchitecture
dc.subjectNeuroscience
dc.subjectPsychology--Behavioral
dc.subjectPsychology--Cognitive
dc.titleThe Cognitive, Behavioural, and Neural Effects of Environmental Complexity During Navigation
dc.typedoctoral thesis
thesis.degree.disciplinePsychology
thesis.degree.grantorUniversity of Calgary
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.item.requestcopytrue
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