Allothetic means being centred in people or places other than oneself. It has been defined as a process of "determining and maintaining a course or trajectory from one place to another.
It can be used as a navigational strategy among animals to aid in their survival.
It can also be a source of information for machines, particularly those
biologically-inspired models and is provided by a set of
laser rangefinder
A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...
s,
sonar
Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigation, navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect o ...
s, or vision.
Allothetic is used in navigation models (e.g., of a rat in a maze) as in the phrase "allothetic map" to indicate that a global map, not orientated or centred on the subject was used, rather than
idiothetic
Idiothetic literally means "self-proposition" (Greek derivation), and is used in navigation models (e.g., of a rat in a maze) to describe the use of self-motion cues, rather than allothetic, or external, cues such as landmarks, to determine posit ...
, which means a
navigation system A navigation system is a computing system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling (for example, on the ship's bridge) or located elsewhere, making use of radio or othe ...
centred on the subject. Directional information may be sourced from familiar reference points such as the sun, stars, or the
Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from the Sun. The magnetic f ...
.
Allothetic cues are often employed with idiothetic information to achieve spatial behavior.
Their characteristics are complementary such as the way the latter can help address the allothetic information's perceptual
aliasing
In signal processing and related disciplines, aliasing is an effect that causes different signals to become indistinguishable (or ''aliases'' of one another) when sampled. It also often refers to the distortion or artifact that results when a ...
problem, which prevents an animal or a robot from distinguishing two places from each other.
Animal navigation
Animals can obtain the so-called pure allothetic navigation once it became familiar with fixed objects at specific locations.
Relationships among these objects, particularly permanent and semi-permanent objects, are also critical in guiding the animals' movements. These objects need to be asymmetrical otherwise they will not contain identifiable information about direction.
Allothetic navigation in
rats uses external cues such as
visual
The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...
,
auditory, or
olfactory
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells (or odors) are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste.
In humans, it ...
information to help them in foraging resources or for protection against predators.
Robot navigation
Robot navigation
Robot localization denotes the robot's ability to establish its own position and orientation within the frame of reference. Path planning is effectively an extension of localisation, in that it requires the determination of the robot's current pos ...
relies on allothetic and idiothetic information to determine a robot's position in its environment.
[Filliat, David, and Jean-Arcady Meyer.]
Map-based navigation in mobile robots:: I. a review of localization strategies
" Cognitive Systems Research 4.4 (2003): 243-282.
See also
*
Navigation research
Spatial cognition is the acquisition, organization, utilization, and revision of knowledge about spatial environments. It is most about how animals including humans behave within space and the knowledge they built around it, rather than space itse ...
*
Allocentrism
References
Psychological adjustment
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