{{refimprove|date=June 2019}} '''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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=The Behavior of the Laboratory Rat: A Handbook with Tests|url=https://archive.org/details/behaviorlaborato00whis|url-access=limited|last=Whishaw|first=Ian|last2=Kolb|first2=Bryan|date=2004|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0195162854|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/behaviorlaborato00whis/page/n408 392], 401}}</ref> It can be used as a navigational strategy among animals to aid in their survival.<ref name=":0" /> It can also be a source of information for machines, particularly those biologically-inspired models and is provided by a set of laser rangefinders, sonars, or vision.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Robotics and Cognitive Approaches to Spatial Mapping|url=https://archive.org/details/springertractsad00ejef|url-access=limited|last=Jefferies|first=Margaret|last2=Yeap|first2=Wai-Kiang|date=2008|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783540753865|location=Berlin|pages=[https://archive.org/details/springertractsad00ejef/page/n183 175]}}</ref>
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, which means a navigation system centred on the subject. Directional information may be sourced from familiar reference points such as the sun, stars, or the Earth's magnetic field.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Perceiving in Depth, Volume 3: Other Mechanisms of Depth Perception|last=Howard|first=Ian P.|last2=Rogers|first2=Brian J.|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780199764167|pages=319}}</ref> Allothetic cues are often employed with idiothetic information to achieve spatial behavior.<ref name=":1" /> Their characteristics are complementary such as the way the latter can help address the allothetic information's perceptual aliasing problem, which prevents an animal or a robot from distinguishing two places from each other.<ref>{{Cite book|title=From Animals to Animats 7: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior|url=https://archive.org/details/fromanimalstoani00hall|url-access=limited|last=Hallam|first=Bridget|last2=Floreano|first2=Dario|last3=Hallam|first3=John|last4=Hayes|first4=Gillian|last5=Meyer|first5=Jean-Arcady|date=2002|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=0262582171|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fromanimalstoani00hall/page/n136 131]}}</ref>
== Animal navigation == Animals can obtain the so-called pure allothetic navigation once they become familiar with fixed objects at specific locations.<ref name=":2" /> Relationships among these objects, particularly permanent and semi-permanent objects, are also critical in guiding the animals' movements.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Biological Psychology|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionarybiolog00winn|url-access=limited|last=Winn|first=Philip|date=2001|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0203298845|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionarybiolog00winn/page/n93 60]}}</ref> These objects need to be asymmetrical otherwise they will not contain identifiable information about direction.<ref name=":2" /> Allothetic navigation in rats uses external cues such as visual, auditory, or olfactory information to help them in foraging resources or for protection against predators.<ref name=":0" />
==Robot navigation== Robot navigation relies on allothetic, and idiothetic information to determine the robot's position in its environment.<ref>Filliat, David, and Jean-Arcady Meyer. "[https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00655473/document Map-based navigation in mobile robots:: I. a review of localization strategies]." Cognitive Systems Research 4.4 (2003): 243-282.</ref>
==See also== *Navigation research *Allocentrism
==References== {{Reflist}}
Category:Psychological adjustment
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