Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots
Background: Military pilots show advanced visuospatial skills. Previous studies demonstrate that they are better at mentally rotating a target, taking different perspectives, estimating distances and planning travel and have a topographic memory. Here, we compared navigational cognitive styles betwe...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-06-01
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| Series: | Brain Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/7/851 |
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| author | Marco Giancola Paola Verde Luigi Cacciapuoti Gregorio Angelino Laura Piccardi Alessia Bocchi Massimiliano Palmiero Raffaella Nori |
| author_facet | Marco Giancola Paola Verde Luigi Cacciapuoti Gregorio Angelino Laura Piccardi Alessia Bocchi Massimiliano Palmiero Raffaella Nori |
| author_sort | Marco Giancola |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Military pilots show advanced visuospatial skills. Previous studies demonstrate that they are better at mentally rotating a target, taking different perspectives, estimating distances and planning travel and have a topographic memory. Here, we compared navigational cognitive styles between military pilots and people without flight experience. Pilots were expected to be more survey-style users than nonpilots, showing more advanced navigational strategies. Method: A total of 106 military jet pilots from the Italian Air Force and 92 nonpilots from the general population matched for education with the pilots were enrolled to investigate group differences in navigational styles. The participants were asked to perform a reduced version of the Spatial Cognitive Style Test (SCST), consisting of six tasks that allow us to distinguish individuals in terms of landmark (people orient themselves by using a figurative memory for environmental objects), route (people use an egocentric representation of the space) and <i>survey</i> (people have a map-like representation of the space) user styles. Results: In line with our hypothesis, military pilots mainly adopt the survey style, whereas nonpilots mainly adopt the route style. In addition, pilots outperformed nonpilots in both the 3D Rotation Task and Map Description Task. Conclusions: Military flight expertise influences some aspects of spatial ability, leading to enhanced human navigation. However, it must be considered that they are a population whose navigational skills were already high at the time of selection at the academy before formal training began. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:02:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8da163c72a25417ca40d0590b7dd4a17 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-3425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T10:02:47Z |
| publishDate | 2021-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Brain Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-8da163c72a25417ca40d0590b7dd4a172023-11-22T01:48:21ZengMDPI AGBrain Sciences2076-34252021-06-0111785110.3390/brainsci11070851Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military PilotsMarco Giancola0Paola Verde1Luigi Cacciapuoti2Gregorio Angelino3Laura Piccardi4Alessia Bocchi5Massimiliano Palmiero6Raffaella Nori7Department of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, ItalyAerospace Medicine Department, Aerospace Test Division, Italian Air Force, 00071 Pomezia, ItalyAerospace Medicine Department, Aerospace Test Division, Italian Air Force, 00071 Pomezia, ItalyAerospace Medicine Department, Aerospace Test Division, Italian Air Force, 00071 Pomezia, ItalyDepartment of Psychology “Sapienza”, University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Psychology “Sapienza”, University of Rome, 00185 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Biotechnological and Applied Clinical Sciences, University of L’Aquila, 67100 L’Aquila, ItalyDepartment of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, ItalyBackground: Military pilots show advanced visuospatial skills. Previous studies demonstrate that they are better at mentally rotating a target, taking different perspectives, estimating distances and planning travel and have a topographic memory. Here, we compared navigational cognitive styles between military pilots and people without flight experience. Pilots were expected to be more survey-style users than nonpilots, showing more advanced navigational strategies. Method: A total of 106 military jet pilots from the Italian Air Force and 92 nonpilots from the general population matched for education with the pilots were enrolled to investigate group differences in navigational styles. The participants were asked to perform a reduced version of the Spatial Cognitive Style Test (SCST), consisting of six tasks that allow us to distinguish individuals in terms of landmark (people orient themselves by using a figurative memory for environmental objects), route (people use an egocentric representation of the space) and <i>survey</i> (people have a map-like representation of the space) user styles. Results: In line with our hypothesis, military pilots mainly adopt the survey style, whereas nonpilots mainly adopt the route style. In addition, pilots outperformed nonpilots in both the 3D Rotation Task and Map Description Task. Conclusions: Military flight expertise influences some aspects of spatial ability, leading to enhanced human navigation. However, it must be considered that they are a population whose navigational skills were already high at the time of selection at the academy before formal training began.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/7/851cognitive stylespatial cognitionsense of directionspatial orientationmental rotationindividual differences |
| spellingShingle | Marco Giancola Paola Verde Luigi Cacciapuoti Gregorio Angelino Laura Piccardi Alessia Bocchi Massimiliano Palmiero Raffaella Nori Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots Brain Sciences cognitive style spatial cognition sense of direction spatial orientation mental rotation individual differences |
| title | Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots |
| title_full | Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots |
| title_fullStr | Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots |
| title_short | Do Advanced Spatial Strategies Depend on the Number of Flight Hours? The Case of Military Pilots |
| title_sort | do advanced spatial strategies depend on the number of flight hours the case of military pilots |
| topic | cognitive style spatial cognition sense of direction spatial orientation mental rotation individual differences |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/11/7/851 |
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