Overcoming navigational challenges: A novel approach to the study and assessment of topographical orientation

Abstract

Several studies investigating environmental navigation require participants to navigate in virtual environments, in which the proprioceptive and vestibular components present during real environmental navigation are lost. Here, we aimed to provide a novel computerized ecological navigational battery, investigating whether the absence of proprioceptive and vestibular inputs yields a representation of the navigational space comparable to that acquired ecologically. In Study 1, 38 participants underwent two sets of tasks, one performed in a laboratory-based setting (LBS) and the other in an ecological environment (EE), with both including evaluation of route, landmark, and survey knowledge and a landmark ordering task. All tasks, except the route task, significantly correlated between EE and LBS. In LBS, performance in the landmark ordering task was predicted by that in the survey task, but not by those in the route and landmark tasks. Results of Study 1 were replicated in Study 2, in which 44 participants completed a modified and shorter online version of LBS tests. Reliability of the online LBS tests was also tested and showed a moderate-to-high internal consistency. Overall, results show that the conditions in which tasks are performed affect the acquisition of route knowledge, likely due to the lack of proprioceptive and vestibular information in LBS. However, LBS tasks presented here provide a standard battery of tests that can overcome the replicability problems encountered by ecological navigation tests, while taking into consideration all the complexities of navigational processes in terms of the use of landmark, route, and survey strategies.

The Development of Human Navigation in Middle Childhood: A Narrative Review through Methods, Terminology, and Fundamental Stages

“…However, studies with augmented or virtual reality are increasing, supported both by the convenience of design, and by the results that can be comparable to those carried out in a physical environment. Moreover, it has been proven how brain regions and processes involved in physical and virtual environments are similar [ 27 ].…”

Emergent processes as means of uncertainty reduction in group decision making

“…Without the confounding of environmental information, the used paradigms are able to identify the basic group processes that might guide group decision making. Additionally, the reductionist paradigms can provide higher replicability compared to ecological tests (Bonavita et al, 2022). However, the strength of the reductionist paradigm might also be a limitation: In more naturalistic settings, group members might rely on exactly those information sources that were excluded in the presented studies.…”