(PhysOrg.com) -- What do hide-and-seek, police searches and
video games such as Half-Life 2 have in common? More than you
would think, say two University of Alberta researchers.
Experimental psychologist Marcia Spetch and computer scientist
Vadim Bulitko, co-wrote and recently published an article in
Learning and Motivation, and are using their research to
understand the reasoning and decision-making process involved in
hiding and searching for objects. They hope it will lead to more
realistic game environments and, one day, advanced search-
enhancing tools for law enforcement. Their research revolves
around a multi-phase study that involved adult participants
searching for and hiding objects in a room in a virtual-reality
setting resembling the real room's dimensions. While research on
hiding and searching strategies had been done with animals and
children, Spetch says little is known about hiding strategies
used by adults. The researchers found that people who were
searching for objects tended to look in pla