The Influence of Landmarks and Pre-exposure to a Structural Map During the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition: A Study with Children and Adults in a Virtual Environment

Jansen-Osmann, Petra; Wiedenbauer, Gunnar; Schmid, Juliane; Heil, Martin

doi:10.1080/13875860701544365

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…The results here replicate findings of previous studies (e.g., Jansen-Osmann, Wiedenbauer, Schmid, & Heil, 2007). Our findings support the suggestion of Wolbers and Hegarty (2010) that sex-related differences are not profound in tasks at the environmental scale.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Wayfinding Behaviors in Complex Buildings

Klippel

2014

Environment and Behavior

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To contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of human wayfinding behaviors in complex buildings, we propose a framework that incorporates the impact of critical factors from both the environment and humans. The influence of the environment is summarized through the concept of environmental legibility (EL), an integration of different space syntax methods that addresses visibility, connectivity, and layout complexity of buildings. Human factors are assessed through psychometric tests, self-ratings for sense of direction, and a report of familiarity. To test this framework, we conducted behavioral experiments involving 24 novices and 28 experts. Three different processes of wayfinding—wayfinding performance, acquisition of spatial knowledge, and development of spatial awareness—were measured and evaluated. Results show that EL and individual differences impact all three processes. There is a predominant impact of EL on wayfinding performance and the development of spatial awareness. Not surprisingly, familiarity has a predominant impact on the acquisition of spatial knowledge.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Wayfinding Behaviors in Complex Buildings

Klippel

2014

Environment and Behavior

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“…In addition, due to the overall influence of landmarks on wayfinding performance but not on orientation behavior and spatial knowledge, the results hint that these aspects of spatial cognition might be dissociable. This is an assumption that is in line with our former studies, where we showed, for example, that structuring by color influenced wayfinding performance but not spatial knowledge acquisition (Jansen-Osmann & Wiedenbauer, 2004b); the learning of a structural map influenced spatial knowledge acquisition but not wayfinding behavior (Jansen-Osmann, Wiedenbauer, Schmid, & Heil, 2006); and the symmetrical structure of the explored environment ameliorated the wayfinding behavior of younger children and did not influence spatial knowledge acquisition (Jansen-Osmann et al, 2006). These results confirm the well-known distinction between doing and knowing in spatial cognition research (Liben, 1988,1999) and the assumption of Creem and Proffitt (1998,2001) that there are two different systems for processing spatial information: a perception-action system where spatial information is provided for guided action or motor responses and a cognitive system, which contains internal representations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Wayfinding Behavior and Spatial Knowledge of Adults and Children in a Virtual Environment

Jansen-Osmann

Fuchs

2006

Experimental Psychology

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This study investigated the effect of different organizations of landmark-location pairings as fine-space information on wayfinding behavior and spatial knowledge on a total of 90 participants: 30 second graders, 30 sixth graders, and 30 adults. All participants had to find their way to a goal in a virtual environment with either randomized or categorical landmarks, or without any landmarks. Thereafter, they had to find the shortest way from the start position to the goal in two consecutive trials (wayfinding performance), and they had to solve a number of spatial knowledge tasks. The results showed that independent of their categorical function, the existence of landmarks influenced the way-finding performance of adults and children in the same way. Whereas the presence of landmarks had no effect on spatial survey knowledge, landmark knowledge itself was influenced by the categorical function of the landmarks presented. Moreover, second graders showed limited achievement compared to adults independent of the existence of landmarks. The main results implicate firstly that children at school age indeed are able to use landmark-location pairings as fine-space information like adults during learning an unknown environmental space, and secondly that a dissociation between wayfinding behavior and spatial knowledge might exist.

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“…Developmental studies of wayfinding have necessarily focused on differences between age groups rather than sex differences. Typically, younger children perform worse in wayfinding tasks relative to older children and adults across a variety of methods and approaches (e.g., Cornell et al, 1989 ; Jansen-Osmann and Fuchs, 2006 ; Jansen-Osmann et al, 2007a , b ). For example, older children are better able to identify and remember useful landmarks than are younger children (e.g., Cornell et al, 1994 ; Heth et al, 1997 ; Jansen-Osmann and Wiedenbauer, 2004a ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex Differences in Using Spatial and Verbal Abilities Influence Route Learning Performance in a Virtual Environment: A Comparison of 6- to 12-Year Old Boys and Girls

et al. 2016

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Previous studies have reported sex differences in wayfinding performance among adults. Men are typically better at using Euclidean information and survey strategies while women are better at using landmark information and route strategies. However, relatively few studies have examined sex differences in wayfinding in children. This research investigated relationships between route learning performance and two general abilities: spatial ability and verbal memory in 153 boys and girls between 6- to 12-years-old. Children completed a battery of spatial ability tasks (a two-dimension mental rotation task, a paper folding task, a visuo-spatial working memory task, and a Piagetian water level task) and a verbal memory task. In the route learning task, they had to learn a route through a series of hallways presented via computer. Boys had better overall route learning performance than did girls. In fact, the difference between boys and girls was constant across the age range tested. Structural equation modeling of the children’s performance revealed that spatial abilities and verbal memory were significant contributors to route learning performance. However, there were different patterns of correlates for boys and girls. For boys, spatial abilities contributed to route learning while verbal memory did not. In contrast, for girls both spatial abilities and verbal memory contributed to their route learning performance. This difference may reflect the precursor of a strategic difference between boys and girls in wayfinding that is commonly observed in adults.

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The Influence of Landmarks and Pre-exposure to a Structural Map During the Process of Spatial Knowledge Acquisition: A Study with Children and Adults in a Virtual Environment

Cited by 10 publications

References 37 publications

Wayfinding Behaviors in Complex Buildings

Wayfinding Behaviors in Complex Buildings

Wayfinding Behavior and Spatial Knowledge of Adults and Children in a Virtual Environment

Sex Differences in Using Spatial and Verbal Abilities Influence Route Learning Performance in a Virtual Environment: A Comparison of 6- to 12-Year Old Boys and Girls

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