<p>Wayfinding Strategy and Gender – Testing the Mediating Effects of Wayfinding Experience, Personality and Emotions</p>

Abstract

Background: Individual differences have been seen to play a key role in spatial orientation. Gender implications have been previously described but little is known about how other variables, such as wayfinding anxiety, emotional difficulties and wayfinding experience can mediate this relationship. Methods: A group of 269 participants were involved in this study and completed questionnaires on their self-reported allocentric orientation strategy, wayfinding experience and satisfaction with the ability for wayfinding. Emotional outcomes were also investigated: spatial and trait anxiety, neuroticism, difficulties in emotion regulation, and personal safety. First, a principal component analysis was conducted and the studied variables were grouped into four components: outdoor wayfinding experience, wayfinding-related fear, emotional difficulties, and effective wayfinding skill. Afterwards, structural equation modelling was performed, using the MPLUS statistical program. Results: The results showed that gender constitutes a predictor for using an effective wayfinding skill and for feeling wayfinding-related fear. However, outdoor wayfinding experience, wayfinding-related fear and emotional difficulties did not mediate the relationship between effective wayfinding skill and gender. Conclusion: These results highlight the differential contribution of gender in the emotions that are experienced during spatial orientation and emotions that are related to other types of situations. The limitations, strengths and theoretical implications of the proposed model are discussed. Further investigation is needed in order to understand the role of emotions in spatial orientation.

Acceptance of a smartphone navigation application by hospital patients and visitors: the role of gender, age, and education

“…2001) and higher spatial anxiety/uncertainty of women in the real environment (Lawton, C.A. et al 1996;Mendez-Lopez, M. et al 2020) do not translate into higher demand for smart navigation apps among women (Ženka, J. et al 2021). We, thus, do not confirm the assumption that people who are good at navigating themselves are not in an urgent need to use an indoor navigation system and may be less willing to adopt a smart indoor navigation system (Smirnov, M. 2007;Wichmann, J. and Leyer, M. 2021).…”

“…Women should be more sensitive to these issues for several reasons: a) they exhibit higher levels of uncertainty and spatial anxiety than men (Lawton, C.A. 1994;Mendez-Lopez, M. et al 2020); b) women perform slightly worse in spatial orientation in the real environment than men (Coluccia, E. and Louse, G. 2004); c) women rely on a 'route strategy' in their navigation (Lawton, C.A. 1994;Liao, H. and Dong, W. 2017), following the sequence of landmarks and left-right turns, while men prefer cardinal directions (North-South), global reference points (central square, airport, sun in the sky) and Euclidean distances (see also Lawton, C.A.…”

“…and Schwering, A. 2010;Silber-Varod, V. et al 2019;Mendez-Lopez, M. et al 2020); b) Applied studies analysing the technological or management aspects of hospital navigation systems (Balata, J. et al 2013;Calderoni, L. et al 2015;Anagnostopoulos, G.G. et al 2017).…”

The Influence of Users’ Spatial Familiarity on Their Emotional Perception of Space and Wayfinding Movement Patterns

“…Human decision-making in wayfinding, influenced by environmental psychology, is easy in a well-arranged space, but it is not expected to be easy in an environment where various signs, shops, and crowds are intricately intertwined. Accordingly, studies are being conducted on achieving effective wayfinding in crowded spaces, such as commercial spaces and public spaces that cause confusion to users while wayfinding [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ] and in spaces that cause confusion for users, such as public transportation, etc. [ 11 , 12 ].…”

“…Neurologically, age is correlated with a decreased volume of the frontal lobe and hippocampus. Mendez–Lopez, Fidalgo, Osma, and Juan [ 8 ] found that among the parameters that can influence wayfinding in a physical environment, gender difference significantly predicted effective wayfinding techniques. There was a difference between men and women in their self-reporting on space-oriented strategies [ 44 ] and the degree of confidence in their ability to solve spatial tasks.…”