Towards a characterization of human spatial exploration behavior

Behavior Research Methods, vol. 57, pp. 65

Abstract

Spatial exploration is a complex behavior that can be used to gain information about developmental processes, personality traits, or mental disorders. Typically, this is done by analyzing movement throughout an unknown environment. However, in human research, until now there has been no overview on how to analyze movement trajectories with regard to exploration. In the current paper, we provide a discussion of the most common movement measures currently used in human research on spatial exploration, and suggest new indices to capture the efficiency of exploration. We additionally analyzed a large dataset (n = 409) of human participants exploring a novel virtual environment to investigate whether movement measures could be assigned to meaningful higher-order components. Hierarchical clustering of the different measures revealed three different components of exploration (exploratory behavior, spatial shape, and exploration efficiency) that in part replicate components of spatial exploratory behavior identified in animal studies. A validation of our analysis on a second dataset (n = 102) indicated that two of these clusters are stable across different contexts as well as participant samples. For the exploration efficiency cluster, our validation showed that it can be further differentiated into a goal-directed versus a general, area-directed component. By also sharing data and code for our analyses, our results provide much-needed tools for the systematic analysis of human spatial exploration behavior.

Authors 5

1. Valentin Baumann corresponding

   Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany. valentin.baumann@med.ovgu.de

   Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

2. Johannes Dambacher

   Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany

   Faculty of Computer Science, University of Magdeburg, Leiden, Germany

3. Marit F. L. Ruitenberg Aachen Institute of Psychology Department of Health, Medical, and Neuropsychology Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology, Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

   Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands

4. Judith Schomaker Aachen Institute of Psychology Department of Health, Medical, and Neuropsychology Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Psychology, Department of Health, Medical and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

   Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition, Leiden, The Netherlands

5. Kerstin Krauel

   Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences · Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg

   Affiliation as printed

   Center for Behavioral Brain Sciences, Magdeburg, Germany

   Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Magdeburg, Leipziger Strasse 44, 39120, Magdeburg, Germany