Virtual/Real Transfer in a Large-Scale Environment: Impact of Active Navigation as a Function of the Viewpoint Displacement Effect and Recall Tasks

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of navigation mode (passive versus active) on the virtual/real transfer of spatial learning, according to viewpoint displacement (ground: 1 m 75 versus aerial: 4 m) and as a function of the recall tasks used. We hypothesize that active navigation during learning can enhance performances when route strategy is favored by egocentric match between learning (ground-level viewpoint) and recall (egocentric frame-based tasks). Sixty-four subjects (32 men and 32 women) participated in the experiment. Spatial learning consisted of route learning in a virtual district (four conditions: passive/ground, passive/aerial, active/ground, or active/aerial), evaluated by three tasks:wayfinding,sketch-mapping,andpicture-sorting. In thewayfinding task, subjects who were assigned the ground-level viewpoint in the virtual environment (VE) performed better than those with the aerial-level viewpoint, especially in combination with active navigation. In thesketch-mapping task, aerial-level learning in the VE resulted in better performance than the ground-level condition, while active navigation was only beneficial in the ground-level condition. The best performance in thepicture-sorting taskwas obtained with the ground-level viewpoint, especially with active navigation. This study confirmed the expected results that the benefit of active navigation was linked with egocentric frame-based situations.

Interactivity in map learning: The effect of cognitive load

“…Our results do not support the notion that active learning is beneficial to spatial knowledge acquisition (e.g., Péruch et al, 1995;Wallet et al, 2013). Passive (rather than active) participants were able to manage an increase in cognitive load.…”

“…We cannot be certain as to whether our results apply to spatial stimuli other than maps, as physical and motor feedback could play a role in spatial knowledge acquisition. Whether spatial knowledge is acquired from maps or through navigation has been shown to have an effect on the recall of the studied environment (Münzer et al, 2006;Thorndyke & Hayes-Roth, 1982;Wallet et al, 2013). Wallet et al observed that active navigation was primarily beneficial for ground-level navigation by comparison with an aerial perspective.…”

“…However, memory for objects found in the environment did not differ between active and passive groups. Several other investigations have reported a beneficial effect of activity in spatial learning (Chrastil & Warren, 2012, 2013Foreman, Foreman, Cummings, & Owens, 1990;Hahm et al, 2007;Péruch, Vercher, & Gauthier, 1995;Tan, Gergle, Scupelli, & Pausch, 2006;von Sülpnagel & Steffens, 2012;Wallet et al, 2013).…”

“…However, studies of interactivity have found inconsistent results. Investigations in this area have employed a host of methodologies, examining real-world and laboratory spaces (e.g., von Sülpnagel & Steffens, 2012), virtual navigation (e.g., Wilson & Péruch, 2002), small-scale spaces (e.g., Sandamas & Foreman, 2014) and large-scale environments (e.g., Wallet, Sauzéon, Larrue, & N'Kaoua, 2013), making a direct comparison between studies difficult. Some researchers have found that active learning is advantageous.…”

Environments and System Types of Virtual Reality Technology in STEM: a Survey

“…The first term of the cognitive map used by Tolman to mean the cognitive map is the description of the mental representation of spatial information and it is the internal (mentally) representation of spatial environments [49]. The cognitive map used to solve the spatial problems (visualization) such that we need in our research by the navigation as many types of research conclude it [50], [51].…”