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This study examines the working memory systems involved in human wayfinding. In the learning phase, 24 participants learned two routes in a novel photorealistic virtual environment displayed on a 220• screen while they were disrupted by a visual, a spatial, a verbal, or-in a control group-no secondary task. In the following wayfinding phase, the participants had to find and to "virtually walk" the two routes again. During this wayfinding phase, a number of dependent measures were recorded. This research shows that encoding wayfinding knowledge interfered with the verbal and with the spatial secondary task. These interferences were even stronger than the interference of wayfinding knowledge with the visual secondary task. These findings are consistent with a dual-coding approach of wayfinding knowledge.

Abstract. The network of reference frames theory explains the orientation behavior of human and non-human animals in directly experienced environmental spaces, such as buildings or towns. This includes selflocalization, route and survey navigation. It is a synthesis of graph representations and cognitive maps, and solves the problems associated with explaining orientation behavior based either on graphs, maps or both of them in parallel. Additionally, the theory points out the unique role of vista spaces and asymmetries in spatial memory. New predictions are derived from the theory, one of which has been tested recently.