Testing landmark-specific effects on route navigation in an ecologically valid setting: a simulated driving study

We used a driving simulator to investigate landmark-based route navigation in young adults. Previous research has examined how proximal and distal landmarks influence route navigation, however, these effects have not been extensively tested in ecologically-relevant settings. We used a virtual town in which participants learned various routes while simultaneously driving. We first examined the effect of four different landmark conditions on navigation performance, such that each driver experienced one of four versions of the town with either proximal landmarks only, distal landmarks only, both proximal and distal landmarks, or no landmarks. Drivers were given real-time navigation directions along a route to a target destination, and were then tested on their ability to navigate to the same destination without directions. We found that the presence of proximal landmarks significantly improved route navigation. We then examined the effect of prior exposure to proximal vs. distal landmarks by testing the same drivers in the same environment they previously encountered, but with the landmarks removed. In this case, we found that prior exposure to distal landmarks significantly improved route navigation. The present results are in line with existing research on route navigation and landmarks, suggesting that these findings can be extended to ecologically-relevant settings.

The path more travelled: Time pressure increases reliance on familiar route-based strategies during navigation

Navigating large-scale environments involves dynamic interactions between the physical world and individuals' knowledge, goals, and strategies. Time pressure can result from self-imposed goals or relatively dynamic situational factors that induce varied constraints. While time pressure is ubiquitous in daily life and has been shown to influence affective states, cost-benefit analyses, and strategy selection, its influence on navigation behaviour is unknown. The present study examined how introducing varied time constraints during virtual urban navigation would influence spatial strategies and impact the efficiency and effectiveness of goal-directed wayfinding. Participants learned a large-scale urban virtual environment by wayfinding between a series of 20 successive landmark goals (e.g., You have reached the Theater. Now find the Bank.). A day later, they again performed the same task, but landmark-to-landmark trials were characterized by conditions of low-, moderate-, or high-pressure time limits as quantified by a pilot experiment. As time pressure increased, participants more likely navigated along previously experienced paths and less likely travelled in the global direction of the destination. Results suggest strategy shifts under time constraints that increase reliance on egocentric, route-based strategies and decrease reliance on global configural knowledge, probably in an attempt to reduce cognitive demands and support performance under pressure.

Where did it come from, where do you go? Direction sources influence navigation decisions during spatial uncertainty

Previous research on route directions largely considers the case when a knowledgeable route-giver conveys accurate information. In the real world, however, route information is sometimes inaccurate, and directions can lead navigators astray. We explored how participants respond to route directions containing ambiguities between landmarks and turn directions, forcing reliance on one or the other. In three experiments, participants read route directions (e.g., To get to the metro station, take a right at the pharmacy) and then selected from destinations on a map. Critically, in half of the trials the landmark (pharmacy) and turn (right) directions were conflicting, such that the participant had to make a decision under conditions of uncertainty; under these conditions, we measured whether participants preferentially relied upon landmark- versus direction-based strategies. Across the three experiments, participants were either provided no information regarding the source of directions (Experiment 1), or told that the source of directions was a GPS device (Experiment 2), or a human (Experiment 3). Without information regarding the source of directions, participants generally relied on landmarks or turn information under conditions of ambiguity; in contrast, with a GPS source participants relied primarily on turn information, and with a human source on landmark information. Results were robust across gender and individual differences in spatial preference. We discuss these results within the context of spatial decision-making theory and consider implications for the design and development of landmark-inclusive navigation systems.

How to put things together

Instructions for putting things together or understanding how things work are notoriously frustrating. Performance relies on constructing mental models of the object and the actions of the object from text or diagrams or both. Here, we show that instructions can be improved by turning users into designers and deriving design principles from their designs. People first assembled an object and then crafted assembly instructions, using text alone or text and diagrams. Some were required to be brief and to include only the most essential information. Users' instructions had a narrative structure with an introduction, a middle, and an end. The essential middle described or depicted the step-by-step sequence of actions on parts. Diagrams were regarded as fundamental, and redundancy of depictions and descriptions desirable. These design principles have wide applicability to many kinds of explanations.

Spatial Mental Representation: Implications for Navigation System Design

Similarities exist in how people process and represent spatial information and in the factors that contribute to disorientation, whether one is moving through airspace, on the ground, or surgically within the body. As such, design principles for presenting spatial information should bear similarities across these domains but also be somewhat specific to each. In this chapter, we review research in spatial cognition and its application to navigation system design for within-vehicle, aviation, and endoscopic navigation systems. Taken together, the research suggests three general principles for navigation system design consideration. First, multimedia displays should present spatial information visually and action and description information verbally. Second, display organizations should meet users' dynamic navigational goals. Third, navigation systems should be adaptable to users' spatial information preferences. Designers of adaptive navigation display technologies can maximize the effectiveness of those technologies by appealing to the basic spatial cognition processes employed by all users while conforming to user's domain-specific requirements.

The effects of verbal and spatial interference in the encoding and retrieval of spatial and nonspatial texts

The paper investigates the specific roles of visual-spatial working memory (VSWM) and verbal working memory (VWM) in encoding and retrieval of information conveyed by spatial and nonspatial texts. In two experiments, a total of 109 undergraduate students-54 in Experiment 1, 55 in Experiment 2-listened to spatial and nonspatial texts while performing a spatial (Experiment 1) or verbal (Experiment 2) concurrent task during either encoding or retrieval. Text memorisation and comprehension were tested by free-recall and sentence-verification tasks. The results show that a concurrent spatial task is detrimental to memory performance for spatial text more than for nonspatial text. In contrast, a concurrent verbal task is equally damaging to memory performance for both spatial and nonspatial texts. Moreover, a spatial task interferes with both encoding and retrieval, in contrast with a verbal task, where the interference effect is active only when the task is performed during encoding. Overall, these findings show the involvement of VSWM in the construction and reactivation of mental models derived from spatial descriptions, and the role played by VWM in construction, but not reactivation, of mental models derived from spatial and nonspatial texts.