Lateral spatial biases in naturalistic and simulated driving: Does pseudoneglect influence performance?

Whereas a rightward bump is more likely than a leftward bump when walking through a doorway, investigations into potential similar asymmetries for drivers are limited. The research presented here aims to determine the influence of innate lateral spatial biases when driving. Data from the Strategic Highway Research Program Naturalistic Driving Study (SHRP 2 NDS) and a driving simulation were used to address our research questions. Data points from SHRP 2 were aggregated within relevant variables (e.g., left/right obstacles). In the simulation, participants drove in ways that were consistent with their everyday driving in urban and rural environments. Collision frequency, collision severity and average lateral lane position were analyzed with rightward biases throughout both analyzes. SHRP 2 data indicated greater likelihoods of collisions when vehicles crossed the right line/edge of the road and when making a right turn. There were more collisions with obstacles on the right side, which were also more severe, and greater rightward lane deviations in the driving simulation, contrasted with more severe collisions on the left side in SHRP 2 data, possibly because of the presence of traffic. These findings suggest that previously observed rightward biases in distant space when walking are also present when driving.

Radical pruning of distribution data may result in loss of knowledge (Response to Larsen & Shirey).

Larsen & Shirey (2020) criticised our analysis of latitudinal changes in butterfly phenology on the grounds of improper data management. We admit some imprecisions, but show that stringent reanalyses did not change the overall results. We also show that unreasonable treatment of data may result in critical information loss.

Spatial sampling heterogeneity limits the detectability of deep time latitudinal biodiversity gradients.

The latitudinal biodiversity gradient (LBG), in which species richness decreases from tropical to polar regions, is a pervasive pattern of the modern biosphere. Although the distribution of fossil occurrences suggests this pattern has varied through deep time, the recognition of palaeobiogeographic patterns is hampered by geological and anthropogenic biases. In particular, spatial sampling heterogeneity has the capacity to impact upon the reconstruction of deep time LBGs. Here we use a simulation framework to test the detectability of three different types of LBG (flat, unimodal and bimodal) over the last 300 Myr. We show that heterogeneity in spatial sampling significantly impacts upon the detectability of genuine LBGs, with known biodiversity patterns regularly obscured after applying the spatial sampling window of fossil collections. Sampling-standardization aids the reconstruction of relative biodiversity gradients, but cannot account for artefactual absences introduced by geological and anthropogenic biases. Therefore, we argue that some previous studies might have failed to recover the 'true' LBG type owing to incomplete and heterogeneous sampling, particularly between 200 and 20 Ma. Furthermore, these issues also have the potential to bias global estimates of past biodiversity, as well as inhibit the recognition of extinction and radiation events.

Artificial night light helps account for observer bias in citizen science monitoring of an expanding large mammal population.

The integration of citizen scientists into ecological research is transforming how, where, and when data are collected, and expanding the potential scales of ecological studies. Citizen-science projects can provide numerous benefits for participants while educating and connecting professionals with lay audiences, potentially increasing the acceptance of conservation and management actions. However, for all the benefits, collection of citizen-science data is often biased towards areas that are easily accessible (e.g. developments and roadways), and thus data are usually affected by issues typical of opportunistic surveys (e.g. uneven sampling effort). These areas are usually illuminated by artificial light at night (ALAN), a dynamic sensory stimulus that alters the perceptual world for both humans and wildlife. Our goal was to test whether satellite-based measures of ALAN could improve our understanding of the detection process of citizen-scientist-reported sightings of a large mammal. We collected observations of American black bears Ursus americanus (n = 1,315) outside their primary range in Minnesota, USA, as part of a study to gauge population expansion. Participants from the public provided sighting locations of bears on a website. We used an occupancy modelling framework to determine how well ALAN accounted for observer metrics compared to other commonly used metrics (e.g. housing density). Citizen scientists reported 17% of bear sightings were under artificially lit conditions and monthly ALAN estimates did the best job accounting for spatial bias in detection of all observations, based on AIC values and effect sizes ( ß^  = 0.81, 0.71-0.90 95% CI). Bear detection increased with elevated illuminance; relative abundance was positively associated with natural cover, proximity to primary bear range and lower road density. Although the highest counts of bear sightings occurred in the highly illuminated suburbs of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region, we estimated substantially higher bear abundance in another region with plentiful natural cover and low ALAN (up to ~375% increased predicted relative abundance) where observations were sparse. We demonstrate the importance of considering ALAN radiance when analysing citizen-scientist-collected data, and we highlight the ways that ALAN data provide a dynamic snapshot of human activity.

Global protected-area coverage and human pressure on tidal flats.

Tidal flats are a globally distributed coastal ecosystem important for supporting biodiversity and ecosystem services. Local to continental-scale studies have documented rapid loss of tidal habitat driven by human impacts, but assessments of progress in their conservation are lacking. With an internally consistent estimate of distribution and change, based on Landsat satellite imagery, now available for the world's tidal flats, we examined tidal flat representation in protected areas (PAs) and human pressure on tidal flats. We determined tidal flat representation and its net change in PAs by spatially overlaying tidal flat maps with the World Database of Protected Areas. Similarly, we overlaid the most recent distribution map of tidal flats (2014-2016) with the human modification map (HMc ) (range from 0, no human pressure, to 1, very high human pressure) to estimate the human pressure exerted on this ecosystem. Sixty-eight percent of the current extent of tidal flats is subject to moderate to very high human pressure (HMc > 0.1), but 31% of tidal flat extent occurred in PAs, far exceeding PA coverage of the marine (6%) and terrestrial (13%) realms. Net change of tidal flat extent inside PAs was similar to tidal flat net change outside PAs from 1999 to 2016. Substantial shortfalls in protection of tidal flats occurred across Asia, where large intertidal extents coincided with high to very high human pressure (HMc > 0.4-1.0) and net tidal flat losses up to 86.4 km² (95% CI 83.9-89.0) occurred inside individual PAs in the study period. Taken together, our results show substantial progress in PA designation for tidal flats globally, but that PA status alone does not prevent all habitat loss. Safeguarding the world's tidal flats will thus require deeper understanding of the factors that govern their dynamics and effective policy that promotes holistic coastal and catchment management strategies.

Cobertura Mundial de Áreas Protegidas y la Presión Humana sobre las Planicies Mareales Resumen Las planicies mareales son un ecosistema costero con distribución global e importancia para el mantenimiento de la biodiversidad y los servicios ambientales. Existen estudios, desde locales hasta continentales, que han documentado la pérdida acelerada del hábitat mareal causado por el impacto humano, aunque las evaluaciones sobre el progreso en su conservación son muy pocas. Ahora que está disponible una estimación internamente coherente de la distribución y el cambio, basado en las imágenes satelitales de Landsat, de las planicies mareales del mundo, examinamos la representación de estas planicies dentro de las áreas protegidas (APs) y la presión humana sobre las mismas. Determinamos la representación de las planicies mareales y su cambio neto dentro de las APs mediante la superposición espacial de los mapas de las planicies mareales y la Base de Datos Mundial de Áreas Protegidas. De manera similar, superpusimos el mapa más reciente de la distribución de las planicies mareales (2014-2016) en el mapa de modificaciones humanas (MH) (abarca desde 0, ninguna presión humana, hasta 1, presión humana muy alta) para estimar la presión humana ejercida sobre este ecosistema. El 68% de la extensión actual de las planicies mareales está sujeta a una presión humana desde moderada hasta muy alta (MH > 0.1), aunque el 31% de la extensión de las planicies mareales se encuentra dentro de las APs, lo que excede por mucho el porcentaje de protección de los dominios marino (6%) y terrestre (13%). El cambio neto de la extensión de las planicies mareales dentro de las APs fue similar al cambio neto de las planicies fuera de las APs entre 1999 y 2016. La insuficiencia sustancial de la protección de las planicies mareales ocurrió en Asia, en donde grandes extensiones intermareales coincidieron con una presión humana alta y muy alta (MH > 0.4-1.0) y la pérdida neta de planicies mareales de hasta 86.4 km² (95% IC 83.9-89.0) ocurrió dentro de una sola AP durante el periodo de estudio. Si se consideran en conjunto, nuestros resultados muestran un progreso importante en la designación de AP para las planicies mareales a nivel mundial, aunque el solo estado de AP no previene la pérdida de hábitat. Salvaguardar las planicies mareales del planeta por lo tanto requerirá de un entendimiento más profundo de los factores que rigen sobre sus dinámicas y de políticas efectivas que promuevan estrategias holísticas de manejo costero y de captación.

A leftward bias negatively correlated with performance is selectively displayed by domestic chicks during rule reversal (not acquisition).

In order to face a constantly changing environment, animals need to be able to update their knowledge of the world on the basis of new information. Often, this means to inhibit a previously acquired response and flexibly change their behaviour to produce a new response. Here, we measured such abilities in young domestic chicks, employing a Colour Reversal Learning Task. During the acquisition phase, 17 one-week-old male chicks had to learn to peck on one of two coloured boxes to obtain a food reward. After reaching criterion, chicks underwent a reversal phase in which the previously learned colour-reward contingency was swapped. As expected from the literature, chicks performed better in the acquisition phase with respect to the reversal phase. Results moreover highlighted the presence of a lateralized bias selectively during reversal: chicks performed better if the stimulus rewarded was located in the left hemispace (processed by the right hemisphere). Interestingly, the bias correlated with the individual difficulty, i.e., it was stronger in those chicks which needed more trials to complete the reversal session. The present study contributes evidence in support of behavioural flexibility in young chicks, along with a novel perspective on lateralized mechanisms that might underlie such ability.

A purely power-space association without spatial and strategic biases.

Previous studies have shown that powerful and powerless concepts are metaphorically associated with top and bottom spaces respectively. However, this association might be contaminated by spatial and strategic biases due to the involvement of spatialized stimuli or responses. It is unknown whether power by itself can automatically activate spatial representations. To eliminate spatial and strategic biases, Experiment 1 separately presented power and spatial stimuli at the center of the screen, and participants had to classify power words and HIGH/LOW labels (Experiment 1a) or indicate up/down arrows (Experiment 1b) using a single key and follow different response rules that were combined with a Go/no-go task. Experiment 2 replicated the non-spatialized design but used an implicit power judgment task. Based upon the non-spatialized method, the results provide the first evidence that a power-space association effect still exists when eliminating spatial and strategic biases, revealing the nonconscious spatial nature of power.

Spatial bias in figure placement in representational drawing: Associations with handedness and script directionality.

Spatial biases in graphomotor production tasks such as figure drawing may reflect biological (cerebral lateralization), biomechanical (limb movement), and/or cultural (reading/writing direction) influences. The present study examined sources of bias in the placement in graphic space of a symmetrical drawn figure (a tree). A previous study using a child sample found an overall leftward placement bias, independent of participants' reading/writing direction experience [Picard & Zarhbouch, 2014. Leftward spatial bias in children's drawing placement: Hemispheric activation versus directional hypotheses. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 19(1), 96-112]; moreover, the left-side bias was greater in right handers. Using an adult sample, the present study also found an overall left placement bias. This effect was significantly greater in right-handed than left-handed participants. Importantly, a left placement bias was significantly greater in left-to-right readers (English) than in participants whose first learned language was from right-to-left (Urdu, Arabic or Farsi). The fact that script directionality is associated with figure placement in our study but not in the previous study suggests that a certain threshold of experience in reading/writing in a given direction may be needed for scanning biases to exert a demonstrable effect on representational drawing. These findings suggest that biomechanical and cultural factors offer a more parsimonious account of spatial biases in drawing.

Spatial Bias Induced by Simple Addition and Subtraction: From Eye Movement Evidence.

The associations between number and space have been intensively investigated. Recent studies indicated that this association could extend to more complex tasks, such as mental arithmetic. However, the mechanism of arithmetic-space associations in mental arithmetic was still a topic of debate. Thus, in the current study, we adopted an eye-tracking technology to investigate whether spatial bias induced by mental arithmetic was related with spatial attention shifts on the mental number line or with semantic link between the operator and space. In Experiment 1, participants moved their eyes to the corresponding response area according to the cues after solving addition and subtraction problems. The results showed that the participants moved their eyes faster to the leftward space after solving subtraction problems and faster to the right after solving addition problems. However, there was no spatial bias observed when the second operand was zero in the same time window, which indicated that the emergence of spatial bias may be associated with spatial attention shifts on the mental number line. In Experiment 2, participants responded to the operator (operation plus and operation minus) with their eyes. The results showed that mere presentation of operator did not cause spatial bias. Therefore, the arithmetic-space associations might be related with the movement along the mental number line.

Left-handers' struggle in a rightward wor(l)d: The relation between horizontal spatial bias and effort in directed movements.

Five studies investigated the role of handedness and effort in horizontal spatial bias related to agency (Spatial Agency Bias, SAB). A Pilot Study (n = 33) confirmed the basic assumption that rightward writing requires greater effort from left- than from right-handers. In three studies, Italian students (n = 591 right-handed, n = 115 left-handed) were found to start drawings on the left, proceeding rightward (Study 1a, 1b), and to draw moving objects with a rightward orientation in line with script direction (Study 1c). These spatial asymmetries were displayed stronger by left- than by right-handed primacy school children, arguably due to the greater effort involved in learning how to write in a rightward fashion. Once writing has become fully automatic (high school) right- and left-handed students showed comparable spatial bias (Study 1c). The hypothesized role of effort was tested explicitly in Study 2 in which 99 right-handed adults learned a new (leftward) spatial trajectory through an easy or difficult motor exercise. The habitual rightward bias was reliably reduced, especially among those who performed a difficult task requiring greater effort. Together, findings are largely in line with the body specificity hypothesis (Casasanto, 2011 ) and suggest that spatial asymmetries are learned and unlearned most efficiently through effortful motor exercises.

Uncertainty in identifying local extinctions: the distribution of missing data and its effects on biodiversity measures.

Identifying local extinctions is integral to estimating species richness and geographic range changes and informing extinction risk assessments. However, the species occurrence records underpinning these estimates are frequently compromised by a lack of recorded species absences making it impossible to distinguish between local extinction and lack of survey effort-for a rigorously compiled database of European and Asian Galliformes, approximately 40% of half-degree cells contain records from before but not after 1980. We investigate the distribution of these cells, finding differences between the Palaearctic (forests, low mean human influence index (HII), outside protected areas (PAs)) and Indo-Malaya (grassland, high mean HII, outside PAs). Such cells also occur more in less peaceful countries. We show that different interpretations of these cells can lead to large over/under-estimations of species richness and extent of occurrences, potentially misleading prioritization and extinction risk assessment schemes. To avoid mistakes, local extinctions inferred from sightings records need to account for the history of survey effort in a locality.

Sustained attention training reduces spatial bias in Parkinson's disease: a pilot case series.

Individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) commonly demonstrate lateralized spatial biases, which affect daily functioning. Those with PD with initial motor symptoms on the left body side (LPD) have reduced leftward attention, whereas PD with initial motor symptoms on the right side (RPD) may display reduced rightward attention. We investigated whether a sustained attention training program could help reduce these spatial biases. Four non-demented individuals with PD (2 LPD, 2 RPD) performed a visual search task before and after 1 month of computer training. Before training, all participants showed a significant spatial bias and after training, all participants' spatial bias was eliminated.

On the neural origin of pseudoneglect: EEG-correlates of shifts in line bisection performance with manipulation of line length.

Healthy participants tend to show systematic biases in spatial attention, usually to the left. However, these biases can shift rightward as a result of a number of experimental manipulations. Using electroencephalography (EEG) and a computerized line bisection task, here we investigated for the first time the neural correlates of changes in spatial attention bias induced by line-length (the so-called line-length effect). In accordance with previous studies, an overall systematic left bias (pseudoneglect) was present during long line but not during short line bisection performance. This effect of line-length on behavioral bias was associated with stronger right parieto-occipital responses to long as compared to short lines in an early time window (100-200ms) post-stimulus onset. This early differential activation to long as compared to short lines was task-independent (present even in a non-spatial control task not requiring line bisection), suggesting that it reflects a reflexive attentional response to long lines. This was corroborated by further analyses source-localizing the line-length effect to the right temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and revealing a positive correlation between the strength of this effect and the magnitude by which long lines (relative to short lines) drive a behavioral left bias across individuals. Therefore, stimulus-driven left bisection bias was associated with increased right hemispheric engagement of areas of the ventral attention network. This further substantiates that this network plays a key role in the genesis of spatial bias, and suggests that post-stimulus TPJ-activity at early information processing stages (around the latency of the N1 component) contributes to the left bias.

Spatial biases in viewing behavior.

Viewing behavior exhibits temporal and spatial structure that is independent of stimulus content and task goals. One example of such structure is horizontal biases, which are likely rooted in left-right asymmetries of the visual and attentional systems. Here, we studied the existence, extent, and mechanisms of this bias. Left- and right-handed subjects explored scenes from different image categories, presented in original and mirrored versions. We also varied the spatial spectral content of the images and the timing of stimulus onset. We found a marked leftward bias at the start of exploration that was independent of image category. This left bias was followed by a weak bias to the right that persisted for several seconds. This asymmetry was found in the majority of right-handers but not in left-handers. Neither low- nor high-pass filtering of the stimuli influenced the bias. This argues against mechanisms related to the hemispheric segregation of global versus local visual processing. Introducing a delay in stimulus onset after offset of a central fixation spot also had no influence. The bias was present even when stimuli were presented continuously and without any requirement to fixate, associated to both fixation- and saccade-contingent image changes. This suggests the bias is not caused by structural asymmetries in fixation control. Instead the pervasive horizontal bias is compatible with known asymmetries of higher-level attentional areas related to the detection of novel events.

Cognitive and sensory capacity each contribute to the canine spatial bias.

Dogs interpret cues as being about location, which human infants would relate to objects. This spatial bias could shed light on the evolution of object-centered thought, however, research needs to rule out that this is not a by-product of dogs' weaker (compared to humans) visual capacities. In this study, we used a data set in which dogs were tested in two types of learning tasks (discrimination and reversal learning) with two types of rewarded cues (location and object features). In both tasks, dogs displayed spatial bias, that is, faster learning when the rewarded cue was a location. We investigated how sensory and cognitive capacity each contributes to this spatial bias. To this end, an estimate for general cognitive ability (g) was obtained from a battery of tests for some of the dogs. Cephalic index, a feature targeted in breeding and linked to differences in visual capacity, correlated negatively with the expression of spatial bias only in the easier discrimination learning task, while a negative correlation between g factor and spatial bias scores emerged in the more difficult reversal learning task. We conclude that dogs' spatial bias cannot be reduced to a sensory limitation and is easier to overcome with greater cognitive capacity.

Attenuation of spatial bias with target template variation.

This study investigated the impact of target template variation or consistency on attentional bias in location probability learning. Participants conducted a visual search task to find a heterogeneous shape among a homogeneous set of distractors. The target and distractor shapes were either fixed throughout the experiment (target-consistent group) or unpredictably varied on each trial (target-variant group). The target was often presented in one possible search region, unbeknownst to the participants. When the target template was consistent throughout the biased visual search, spatial attention was persistently biased toward the frequent target location. However, when the target template was inconsistent and varied during the biased search, the spatial bias was attenuated so that attention was less prioritized to a frequent target location. The results suggest that the alternative use of target templates may interfere with the emergence of a persistent spatial bias. The regularity-based spatial bias depends on the number of attentional shifts to the frequent target location, but also on search-relevant contexts.

Predicting hotspots of unsheltered homelessness using geospatial administrative data and volunteered geographic information.

Unsheltered homelessness is an increasingly prevalent phenomenon in major cities that is associated with adverse health and mortality outcomes. This creates a need for spatial estimates of population denominators for resource allocation and epidemiological studies. Gaps in the timeliness, coverage, and spatial specificity of official Point-in-Time Counts of unsheltered homelessness suggest a role for geospatial data from alternative sources to provide interim, neighborhood-level estimates of counts and trends. We use citizen-generated data from homeless-related 311 requests, provider-based administrative data from homeless street outreach cases, and expert reports of unsheltered count to predict count and emerging hotspots of unsheltered homelessness in census tracts across the City of Los Angeles for 2019 and 2020. Our study shows that alternative data sources can contribute timely insights into the state of unsheltered homelessness throughout the year and inform the delivery of interventions to this vulnerable population.

Reading/writing direction as a source of directional bias in spatial cognition: Possible mechanisms and scope.

Becoming literate has been argued to have a range of social, economic and psychological effects. Less examined is the extent to which repercussions of becoming literate may vary as a function of writing system variation. A salient way in which writing systems differ is in their directionality. Recent studies have claimed that directional biases in a variety of spatial domains are attributable to reading and writing direction. This claim is the focus of the present paper, which considers the scope and possible mechanisms underlying script directionality effects in spatial cognition, with particular attention to domains with real-world relevance. Three questions are addressed: (1) What are possible mediating and moderator variables relevant to script directionality effects in spatial cognition? (2) Does script directionality exert a fixed or a malleable effect? and (3) How can script directionality effects be appropriately tested? After discussing these questions in the context of specific studies, we highlight general methodological issues in this literature and provide recommendations for the design of future research.

Gazing left, gazing right: exploring a spatial bias in social attention.

Faces oriented rightwards are sometimes perceived as more dominant than faces oriented leftwards. In this study, we explored whether faces oriented rightwards can also elicit increased attentional orienting. Participants completed a discrimination task in which they were asked to discriminate, by means of a keypress, a peripheral target. At the same time, a task-irrelevant face oriented leftwards or rightwards appeared at the centre of the screen. The results showed that, while for faces oriented rightwards targets appearing on the right were responded to faster as compared to targets appearing on the left, for faces oriented leftwards no differences emerged between left and right targets. Furthermore, we also found a negative correlation between the magnitude of the orienting response elicited by the faces oriented leftwards and the level of conservatism of the participants. Overall, these findings provide evidence for the existence of a spatial bias reflected in social orienting.