Individual Differences in Cognitive Flexibility and Cognitive Map Accuracy

Research has demonstrated broad individual differences in the ability to form a cognitive map of a novel environment. The current study investigated whether individual differences in cognitive map accuracy are driven by differences in cognitive flexibility specifically, the ability to switch between tasks. Using the Silcton virtual environment, participants explored four routes in Silcton and were assessed on cognitive map accuracy using the Silcton onsite pointing task and the Silcton model building task. To assess task-switching, perseveration error from the Wisconsin Card Sort Test (WCST) was measured. There was a significant correlation between the WCST and the onsite pointing task, such that low perseveration error lead to better cognitive map accuracy. Therefore, the current study is the first to reveal an association between cognitive flexibility in the form of task-switching and individual differences in cognitive map accuracy