Navigational tools are relied on to traverse unfamiliar grounds, but their use may come at a cost to situational awareness and spatial memory due to increased cognitive load. In order to test for a cost-benefit trade off in navigational cues, we implemented a variety of navigation cues known to facilitate target search and spatial knowledge acquisition of an urban virtual environment viewed through an HTC VIVE Pro as a simulation of cues that would be possible using Augmented Reality (AR). We used a Detection Response Task (DRT) during the navigation task to measure cognitive load and situational awareness. Participants searched for targets in the city with access to a map that did or did not have a “you are here” indicator showing the viewer’s location as they moved. In addition, navigational beacons were also present or absent in the environment as well as a compass and street name indicator. Participants searched for three separate target objects and then returned back to their starting location in the virtual world. After returning home, as a measure of spatial knowledge acquisition, they pointed toward each target from the home location and pointed to home and to the other targets from each target location. Results showed that the navigational cues aided spatial knowledge without increasing cognitive load as assessed with the DRT. Pointing error was lowest when all navigational cues were present during navigation and when pointing was done from home to the target objects. Participants who received the “you are here” indicator on their map consulted the map more often, but without detrimental effects for the acquisition of spatial knowledge compared to a map with no indicator. Taken together, the results suggest that navigational cues can help with spatial learning during navigation without additional costs to situational awareness.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.