Cue combination in goal-oriented navigation

This study examined cue combination of self-motion and landmark cues in goal-localisation. In an immersive virtual environment, before walking a two-leg path, participants learned the locations of three goal objects (one at the path origin, that is, home) and landmarks. After walking the path without seeing landmarks or goals, participants indicated the locations of the home and non-home goals in four conditions: (1) path integration only, (2) landmarks only, (3) both path integration and the landmarks, and (4) path integration and rotated landmarks. The ratio of the length between the testing position (P) and the turning point (T) over the length between the T and the three goals (G) (i.e., PT/TG) was manipulated. The results showed the cue combination consistently for participants' heading estimates but not for goal-localisation. In Experiments 1 and 2 (using distal landmarks), the cue combination for goal estimates appeared in a small length ratio (PT/TG = 0.5) but disappeared in a large length ratio (PT/TG = 2). In Experiments 3 and 4 (using proximal landmarks), while the cue combination disappeared for the home with a medium length ratio (PT/TG = 1), it appeared for the non-home goal with a large length ratio (PT/TG = 2) and only disappeared with a very large length ratio (PT/TG = 3). These findings are explained by a model stipulating that cue combination occurs in self-localisation (e.g., heading estimates), which leads to one estimate of the goal location; proximal landmarks produce another goal location estimate; these two goal estimates are then combined, which may only occur for non-home goals.