Seeing through the cat's eyes: evidence of a spontaneous perspective taking process using a non-human avatar.

In many daily face-to-face interactions, people are able to take the perspective of others, for example, coding right and left based on point-of-view of others. In the present study, we investigated whether observers are able to take the perspective of a non-human figure such as a cat, observing the same effects obtained with human or robot avatars. In both experiments, we used a centrally presented stimulus (i.e. a cat), with its tail lateralized to the left or to the right. Participants had to respond to the side of the tail with a lateralized keypress. In Experiment 1 (spatial perspective taking task), participants were required to explicitly adopt the cat's perspective to respond, whereas in Experiment 2 (SR compatibility task), this was not explicitly required. In both experiments, faster RTs are obtained when the cat is presented back, with a greater difference between front and back views when the tail is on the right; furthermore, there is no temporal modulation of the back-front effect. These common results between the two experiments are interpreted on the basis of the spatial perspective taking processes, elicited voluntarily (Experiment 1) or spontaneously (Experiment 2).

Unpacking the post-Haiyan disaster resettlement narratives of young Filipino women informal settlers in Tacloban City, Philippines.

Post-disaster resettlement narratives encapsulate the complex mobile-spatial processes that are embedded in a post-disaster context. The existing literature on disaster relocation and resettlement accords primacy to the logistical, practical, structural, and physical dimensions of residential transitioning. Building on this knowledge, this study conducted a spatial narrative inquiry to generate a link to mobile-spatial realities interspersed in diverse temporal trajectories. It did so by tracking the embodied rhythms of people and objects evoked through the retelling of post-disaster resettlement stories by 12 young Filipino women informal settlers. The key findings are organised in three spatial narratives: 'house near the sea'; 'there at the bunkhouse'; and 'here in Ridgeview'. These narratives are anchored in the overarching dimensions that underpin Filipino informal settlers' experiences of (not) moving in and out of disaster resettlement areas. Lastly, the findings are explained in the light of the theoretical, empirical, and practical implications of disaster resettlement specific to informal settlers.

Take a Seat and Get Into Its Shoes! When Humans Spontaneously Represent Visual Scenes From the Point of View of Inanimate Objects.

Human description of the surrounding world may spontaneously rely on others' perspective, which is a crucial component of social cognition. In five studies, participants were asked to describe the spatial relations between objects in visual scenes including, or not, other agents. In Experiment 1, a substantial proportion of participants used an other-centered perspective in the presence of another agent, replicating classical findings. To our own surprise, we also observed that an even greater number of participants used an other-centered perspective when the human agent was replaced by an armchair. In order to explore this phenomenon, Experiments 2 to 5 compared the respective strength of chair-centered and agent-centered perspectives and/or set them into conflict. A significant proportion of participants spontaneously took the seat's perspective even when it may not be sat on (Experiments 3 and 4) and even when the seat was not referred to (Experiments 4 and 5). Altogether, these findings suggest that perspective taking may spontaneously apply to inanimate objects. These results question whether such tendencies originate from social cognitive skills-as classically assumed-or reveal a nonsocial phenomenon. Future works should specifically test the widely assumed social nature of spontaneous perspective-taking.

Perspective taking in judgment of relative direction tasks.

Mental rotation and visual-spatial perspective taking (VSPT) are two visual-spatial abilities that are highly correlated. Judgment of relative direction (JRD) tasks are commonly used to examine VSPT in conjunction with mental rotation. Moreover, in many studies the task involves switching from an imagined perspective to a sensorimotor perspective at the response phase. The current study employed a JRD task that enabled examination of mental rotation, perspective taking, and perspective switching, separately. In two experiments we found that both perspective taking and perspective switching affected accuracy and response time (RT). Namely, trials with a perspective change larger than 90° (that required perspective taking) were harder than trials with a change smaller than 90° (that required mental rotation), and so were trials that required switching from an imagined perspective to a sensorimotor perspective. Importantly, we suggest that VSPT and mental rotation are dissociable.

On my right or on your left? Spontaneous spatial perspective taking in blind people.

Spatial perspective taking is a human ability that permits to assume another person's spatial viewpoint. Data show that spatial perspective taking might arise even spontaneously by the mere presence of another person in the environment. We investigated whether this phenomenon is observable also in blind people. Blind and blindfolded sighted participants explored a tridimensional tactile map and memorized the localization of different landmarks. Then, after the presentation of sounds coming from three landmarks-positioned on the right, on the left, and in front-participants had to indicate the reciprocal position of the two lateral landmarks. Results showed that when the sound coming from the frontal landmark suggested the presence of a speaking (voice) or moving person (footsteps), several blind and sighted people adopted this person's perspective. These findings suggest that auditory stimuli can trigger spontaneous spatial perspective taking in sighted as well as in blind people.

Transcranial direct current stimulation of the right temporoparietal junction impairs third-person perspective taking.

Given the current debates about the precise functional role of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ) in egocentric and exocentric perspective taking, in the present study we manipulated activity in the rTPJ to investigate the effects on a spatial perspective-taking task. Participants engaged in a mental body transformation task, requiring them to mentally rotate their own body to the position of an avatar, while undergoing anodal, cathodal, or sham transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) of the rTPJ. As a control task, participants judged the laterality of a stimulus feature with respect to a fixation cross on the screen. For the first half of the experiment (only during online tDCS), a task-selective effect of tDCS was observed, reflected in slower reaction times following anodal than following cathodal and sham tDCS for the mental body transformation task, but not for the control task. The effects of tDCS were most pronounced for stimuli implying a more difficult mental body transformation. No effects of tDCS were observed during the second half of the experiment. The effects of tDCS were most pronounced for participants scoring low on aberrant perceptual beliefs and spiritual transcendence, suggesting a relation between third-person perspective taking and bodily and perceptual experiences. The finding that anodal stimulation of the rTPJ impairs third-person perspective taking indicates a key role of this region in exocentric spatial processing.

When Far Becomes Near.

On many occasions, people spontaneously or deliberately take the perspective of a person facing them rather than their own perspective. How is this done? Using a spatial perspective task in which participants were asked to identify objects at specific locations, we found that self-perspective judgments were faster for objects presented to the right, rather than the left, and for objects presented closer to the participants' own bodies. Strikingly, taking the opposing perspective of another person led to a reversal (i.e., remapping) of these effects, with reference to the other person's position (Experiment 1). A remapping of spatial relations was also observed when an empty chair replaced the other person (Experiment 2), but not when access to the other viewpoint was blocked (Experiment 3). Thus, when the spatial scene allows a physically feasible but opposing point of view, people respond as if their own bodies were in that place. Imagination can thus overcome perception.

Children's representations of another person's spatial perspective: Different strategies for different viewpoints?

The current study investigated development and strategy use of spatial perspective taking (i.e., the ability to represent how an object or array of objects looks from other viewpoints) in children between 8 and 12years of age. We examined this ability with a task requiring children to navigate a route through a model city of wooden blocks from a 90° and 180° rotated perspective. We tested two hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that children's perspective-taking skills increase during this age period and that this process is related to a co-occurring increase in working memory capacity. Results indeed showed clear age effects; accuracy and speed of perspective-taking performance were higher in the older age groups. Positive associations between perspective-taking performance and working memory were observed. Second, we hypothesized that children, like adults, use a mental self-rotation strategy during spatial perspective taking. To confirm this hypothesis, children's performance should be better in the 90° condition than in the 180° condition of the task. Overall, the results did show the reversed pattern; children were less accurate, were slower, and committed more egocentric errors in the 90° condition than in the 180° condition. These findings support an alternative scenario in which children employ different strategies for different rotation angles. We propose that children mentally rotated their egocentric reference frame for 90° rotations; for the 180° rotations, they inverted the left-right and front-back axes without rotating their mental position.

Cue generation and memory construction in direct and generative autobiographical memory retrieval.

Theories of autobiographical memory emphasise effortful, generative search processes in memory retrieval. However recent research suggests that memories are often retrieved directly, without effortful search. We investigated whether direct and generative retrieval differed in the characteristics of memories recalled, or only in terms of retrieval latency. Participants recalled autobiographical memories in response to cue words. For each memory, they reported whether it was retrieved directly or generatively, rated its visuo-spatial perspective, and judged its accompanying recollective experience. Our results indicated that direct retrieval was commonly reported and was faster than generative retrieval, replicating recent findings. The characteristics of directly retrieved memories differed from generatively retrieved memories: directly retrieved memories had higher field perspective ratings and lower observer perspective ratings. However, retrieval mode did not influence recollective experience. We discuss our findings in terms of cue generation and content construction, and the implication for reconstructive models of autobiographical memory.

Panoramic tumor microenvironment in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is notorious for its resistance to various treatment modalities. The genetic heterogeneity of PDAC, coupled with the presence of a desmoplastic stroma within the tumor microenvironment (TME), contributes to an unfavorable prognosis. The mechanisms and consequences of interactions among different cell types, along with spatial variations influencing cellular function, potentially play a role in the pathogenesis of PDAC. Understanding the diverse compositions of the TME and elucidating the functions of microscopic neighborhoods may contribute to understanding the immune microenvironment status in pancreatic cancer. As we delve into the spatial biology of the microscopic neighborhoods within the TME, aiding in deciphering the factors that orchestrate this intricate ecosystem. This overview delineates the fundamental constituents and the structural arrangement of the PDAC microenvironment, highlighting their impact on cancer cell biology.

Three key questions to move towards a theoretical framework of visuospatial perspective taking.

What would a theory of visuospatial perspective taking (VSPT) look like? Here, ten researchers in the field, many with different theoretical viewpoints and empirical approaches, present their consensus on the three big questions we need to answer in order to bring this theory (or these theories) closer.

Imagery and Verbal Strategies in Spatial Memory for Route and Survey Descriptions.

Being able to represent and remember verbally-encoded information about spatial environments from different perspectives is important for numerous daily activities. The present study examined how frequently individuals spontaneously engage in visual mental imagery and verbal rehearsal strategies in memory recall of spatial descriptions, and whether using certain strategies is associated with better recall performance. Memory recall for route (person-centred) and survey (object-centred) spatial descriptions was examined in a sample of 105 neurotypical individuals, who also reported to what extent they used route- and survey-based mental imagery and verbal rehearsal strategies in each description. Results showed that participants favoured a path visualisation strategy to recall the route description and a map visualisation strategy to recall the survey description. Regression models further showed that employing both imagery and verbal strategies was associated with better recall for both route and survey descriptions, although imagery strategies held a higher predictive power. The present findings highlight the fact that the spontaneous use of internal strategies in the form of visual imagery and verbal rehearsal is ubiquitous when recalling spatial descriptions and a core part of efficient spatial memory functioning.

Biases in object location estimation: The role of rotations and translation.

Spatial memory studies often employ static images depicting a scene, an array of objects, or environmental features from one perspective and then following a perspective-shift-prompt memory either of the scene or objects within the scene. The current study investigated a previously reported systematic bias in spatial memory where, following a perspective shift from encoding to recall, participants indicated the location of an object farther to the direction of the shift. In Experiment 1, we aimed to replicate this bias by asking participants to encode the location of an object in a virtual room and then indicate it from memory following a perspective shift induced by camera translation and rotation. In Experiment 2, we decoupled the influence of camera translations and rotations and examined whether adding additional objects to the virtual room would reduce the bias. Overall, our results indicate that camera translations result in greater systematic bias than camera rotations. We propose that the accurate representation of camera translations requires more demanding mental computations than camera rotations, leading to greater uncertainty regarding the location of an object in memory. This uncertainty causes people to rely on an egocentric anchor, thereby giving rise to the systematic bias in the direction of camera translation.

Measuring Spatial Perspective Taking: Analysis of Four Measures Using Item Response Theory.

Research on spatial thinking requires reliable and valid measures of individual differences in various component skills. Spatial perspective taking (PT)-the ability to represent viewpoints different from one's own-is one kind of spatial skill that is especially relevant to navigation. This study had two goals. First, the psychometric properties of four PT tests were examined: Four Mountains Task (FMT), Spatial Orientation Task (SOT), Perspective-Taking Task for Adults (PTT-A), and Photographic Perspective-Taking Task (PPTT). Using item response theory (IRT), item difficulty, discriminability, and efficiency of item information functions were evaluated. Second, the relation of PT scores to general intelligence, working memory, and mental rotation (MR) was assessed. All tasks showed good construct validity except for FMT. PPTT tapped a wide range of PT ability, with maximum measurement precision at average ability. PTT-A captured a lower range of ability. Although SOT contributed less measurement information than other tasks, it did well across a wide range of PT ability. After controlling for general intelligence and working memory, original and IRT-refined versions of PT tasks were each related to MR. PTT-A and PPTT showed relatively more divergent validity from MR than SOT. Tests of dimensionality indicated that PT tasks share one common PT dimension, with secondary task-specific factors also impacting the measurement of individual differences in performance. Advantages and disadvantages of a hybrid PT test that includes a combination of items across tasks are discussed.

Does spatial perspective in virtual reality affect imitation accuracy in stroke patients?

Imitation is an important daily activity involved in social interactions, motor learning, and is commonly used for rehabilitation after stroke. Moreover, deficits in imitation of novel movements commonly occur after left hemisphere stroke (LCVA) in the syndrome of limb apraxia. In the current study, we used a novel virtual reality (VR) imitation paradigm to assess two factors that have remained underexplored in novel movement imitation: the imitation of complex, dynamic full-arm movements, and the effect of spatial perspective. VR holds promise as a tool for a number of clinical assessments and treatments, but has very rarely been studied in the context of imitation or diagnosis of apraxia. Thirty participants (18 with LCVA and 12 age- and education-matched controls) wore a VR headset and observed and imitated an instructor avatar demonstrating arm movements. Three spatial perspectives were examined within-subjects: first-person, third-person mirror, and third-person anatomical. Movements of the ipsilesional (left) arm were recorded and qualitatively coded for accuracy compared to the instructor avatar. Participants also completed embodiment questionnaires, a measure of limb apraxia (imitation of video-recorded meaningless movements), and three computerized background tasks that were hypothesized to evoke some of the same processing requirements of each of the three perspective conditions: a block-matching task, a block-mirroring task, and a mental rotation task. Imitation accuracy was highest in the first-person perspective, consistent with predictions, but did not differ between third-person mirror and anatomical. Surprisingly, patients and controls performed similarly on the imitation task for all spatial perspectives, with overall modest accuracy in both groups, and both patients and controls felt a moderate level of embodiment of their own avatar. Higher imitation accuracy related to quicker block-matching reaction times and higher mental rotation accuracy, regardless of perspective, but was unrelated to imitation of video-recorded meaningless movements. In sum, virtual reality provides advantages in terms of experimental manipulation and control but may present challenges in detecting clinical imitation deficits (limb apraxia).

Age effects on processing spatial relations within different reference frames: The role of executive functions.

Mental representations of space can be generated and communicated with respect to different reference frames and perspectives. The present study investigated the effects of age and individual differences in domain-general executive functions on people's ability to process spatial relations as expressed in language within different spatial reference frames (SRFs). Healthy adults aged between 18 and 85 completed a novel task involving self-, third-person-, object-, and environment-centered judgements of spatial relations between two objects, as well as standard tests of working memory, inhibition, and mental flexibility. A psychometric evaluation confirmed the test-retest reliability and the convergent and divergent validity of the new task. Results showed that the lifespan trajectories varied depending on the SRF. Processing from a self-centered perspective or an object-centered frame remained intact throughout the adult-lifespan. By contrast, spatial processing from a third-person-centered perspective or within an environment-centered frame declined in late adulthood. Mediation regression models showed that mental flexibility accounted for a significant part of the age-related variance in spatial processing across all allocentric SRFs. The age effects on environment-centered processing were also partially mediated by age-related changes in visuospatial working memory capacity. These findings suggest that at least partially distinct systems are involved in mentally representing space under different SRFs, which are differentially affected by typical aging. Our results also highlight that people's ability to process spatial relations across different SRFs depends on their capacity to employ domain-general effortful cognitive resources.

The role of memory and perspective shifts in systematic biases during object location estimation.

In the current study, we investigated whether the introduction of perspective shifts in a spatial memory task results in systematic biases in object location estimations. To do so, we asked participants to first encode the position of an object in a virtual room and then to report its position from memory or perception following a perspective shift. Overall, our results showed that participants made systematic errors in estimating object positions in the same direction as the perspective shift. Notably, this bias was present in both memory and perception conditions. We propose that the observed systematic bias was driven by difficulties in understanding the perspective shifts that led participants to use an egocentric representation of object positions as an anchor when estimating the object location following a perspective shift.

Correlational Evidence for the Role of Spatial Perspective-Taking Ability in the Mental Rotation of Human-Like Objects.

People can mentally rotate objects that resemble human bodies more efficiently than nonsense objects in the same/different judgment task. Previous studies proposed that this human-body advantage in mental rotation is mediated by one's projections of body axes onto a human-like object, implying that human-like objects elicit a strategy shift, from an object-based to an egocentric mental rotation. To test this idea, we investigated whether mental rotation performance involving a human-like object had a stronger association with spatial perspective-taking, which entails egocentric mental rotation, than a nonsense object. In the present study, female participants completed a chronometric mental rotation task with nonsense and human-like objects. Their spatial perspective-taking ability was then assessed using the Road Map Test and the Spatial Orientation Test. Mental rotation response times (RTs) were shorter for human-like than for nonsense objects, replicating previous research. More importantly, spatial perspective-taking had a stronger negative correlation with RTs for human-like than for nonsense objects. These findings suggest that human-like stimuli in the same/different mental rotation task induce a strategy shift toward efficient egocentric mental rotation.

Directionality eclipses agency: How both directional and social cues improve spatial perspective taking.

Research on spatial perspective taking has suggested that including an agent in the display benefits performance. However, little research has examined the mechanisms underlying this benefit. Here, we examine how an agent benefits performance by examining its effects on three mental steps in a perspective-taking task: (1) imagining oneself at a location (station point) within in the array, (2) adopting a different perspective (heading), and (3) pointing to an object from that perspective. We also examine whether a non-agentive directional cue (an arrow) is sufficient to improve performance in an abstract map-like display. We compared a non-directional cue to two cues for position and orientation: a human figure (agentive, directional) and an arrow (non-agentive, directional). To examine the effects of cues on steps 2 and 3 of the perspective-taking process, magnitude of the initial perspective shift and pointing direction were varied across trials. Response time and error increased with the magnitude of the imagined perspective shift and pointing to the front was more accurate than pointing to the side, or back, but these effects were independent of directional cue. A directional cue alone was sufficient to improve performance relative to control, and agency did not provide additional benefit. The results overall indicate that most people adopt an embodied cognition strategy to perform this task and directional cues facilitate the first step of the perspective-taking process, imagining oneself at a location within in the array.

Interactions between interoception and perspective-taking: Current state of research and future directions.

Interoception, the sense of the physiological state of the body, and perspective-taking, the ability to take another's point of view, are two fundamental components contributing to our perception and interaction with the external world. However, whether the perception of our inner body influences how we perceive the external world and other people remains poorly understood. Here, we review recent behavioural and neuroimaging evidence investigating the links between dimensions of interoception (i.e., accuracy, sensibility and awareness) and perspective-taking (i.e., affective, cognitive and visual). So far, only a limited subset of these dimensions has been investigated together and the results suggest that interoceptive abilities may only interact with perspective-taking when embodied mental transformations are required. Furthermore, mainly the emotional aspects of perspective-taking are related to interoception, influencing the ability to empathise with others. Future research should systematically investigate the links between all dimensions of interoception and perspective-taking to provide full understanding of the specific role interoception has on how we perceive the world and take another's point of view.