Washington, Sep 2 - What do hide-and-seek, police searches and video games have in common? More than you would think, say two University of Alberta (U-A) researchers.

Experimental psychologist Marcia Spetch and computer scientist Vadim Bulitko at U-A are using their research to understand the reasoning and decision-making process involved in hide-and-seek objects.

They hope it will lead to more realistic game environments and 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 places closer to their starting location, whereas people tended to move farthest away from the starting point when hiding objects.

The hiders would disperse objects over a wider area to make them harder to find. When their role was reversed, this group provided the researchers with some interesting observations.