Using virtual environments to investigate wayfinding in 8- to 12-year-olds and adults

Wayfinding is the ability to learn and recall a route through an environment. Theories of wayfinding suggest that for children to learn a route successfully, they must have repeated experience of it, but in this experiment we investigated whether children could learn a route after only a single experience of the route. A total of 80 participants from the United Kingdom in four groups of 20 8-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and adults were shown a route through a 12-turn maze in a virtual environment. At each junction, there was a unique object that could be used as a land- mark. Participants were ‘‘walked” along the route just once (with- out any verbal prompts) and then were asked to retrace the route from the start without any help. Nearly three quarters of the 12- year-olds, half of the 10-year-olds, and a third of the 8-year-olds retraced the route without any errors the first time they traveled it on their own. This finding suggests that many young children can learn routes, even with as many as 12 turns, very quickly and without the need for repeated experience. The implications for theories of wayfinding that emphasize the need for extensive experience are discussed

The process of spatial knowledge acquisition in a square and a circular virtual environment

This study investigated the effect of the environmental structure (circular vs. square environment) on spatial knowledge acquisition in a desktop virtual situation in which self-determined movement was allowed with a total of 120 participants: 7-, 8-year-old children; 11, 12-year-old children, and adults. In all measurements of spatial knowledge acquisition an overall developmental performance increase from younger children to adults was found. In contrast to that, the exploration and learning behavior did not differ between adults and children. Furthermore, the environmental structure influencedthenumber of trials needed to learn the two routes used and the distance walked to the determined landmarks. All these tasks were easier in a circular than in a square environment. This influenceofthe environmental structure was absent in the direction estimations task. The advantage of spatial knowledge acquisition in a circular environment in three of four tasks is discussed

Distance cognition: laboratory-experimental investigations in virtual environments

In this study on spatial cognition spatial orientation behaviour and the effects of organisation and processes on distance cognition in virtual environments are investigated in 8 experiments with a total of 180 participants. The main question is whether distance cognition in environmental spaces is only determined by the occurrence features (feature accumulation hypothesis), or by the segmentation of a route, which is induced by the specific order of these features along the route (route segmentation hypothesis). The results show that under an incidental learning condition, the feature accumulation hypothesis is valid. If the spatial configuration is presented simultaneously as a map-like survey view, distance cognition is determined by the kind of segmentation, which is induced by the Gestalt factors. Under this condition, the route segmentation hypothesis is valid. If the acquisition of distance knowledge is intentional, no support was found for either of the two hypotheses. Under this condition, it is possible to retrieve distance knowledge directly. After incidental learning, a distance estimate has to be inferred indirectly from the successively experienced and retrieved features of the route. The dissertation also shows that the use of Virtual Reality technology makes it possible to construct laboratory experiments in a realistic and economic manner. In dieser Arbeit zur Raumkognition werden in acht Experimenten mit insgesamt 180 Versuchsteilnehmern das räumliche Orientierungsverhalten und die Effekte von Gestaltungs- und Prozeßbedingungen auf die Distanzkognition in virtuellen Umgebungsräumen untersucht. Zentrales Anliegen ist die Klärung der Frage, ob die Distanzkognition in Umgebungsräumen allein durch das Auftreten von Umgebungsmerkmalen (Feature-Akkumulationshypothese) oder von der durch die spezifische Anordnung dieser Features induzierten Gliederung (Route-Segmentierungshypothese) bestimmt wird. Die Befunde zeigen, daß unter einer inzidentellen Lernbedingung die Feature-Akkumulationshypothese gilt. Bei Simultandarbietung der räumlichen Konfiguration in Form einer Obenaufsicht bestimmen die nach Gestaltfaktoren induzierten Gliederungsverhältnisse die Distanzkognition. Unter dieser Bedingung gilt die Routen-Segmentierungshypothese. Bei intentionalem Erwerb von Distanzwissen läßt sich weder die Feature-Akkumulationshypothese noch die Routen-Segmentierungshypothese nachweisen. Unter dieser Lernbedingung ist ein direkter Abruf von Distanzwissen möglich, während die Distanzschätzung nach inzidentellem Lernen indirekt aufgrund der auf der jeweiligen Route sukzessiv erfahrenen und abgerufenen Features inferiert wird. Die Arbeit zeigt, daß der Einsatz der Virtual-Reality-Technologie eine realitätsnahe und ökonomischere Gestaltung räumlicher Gegebenheiten im Laborexperiment ermöglicht

Mental Rotation Performance in Male Soccer Players

It is the main goal of this study to investigate the visual-spatial cognition in male soccer players. Forty males (20 soccer players and 20 non-athletes) solved a chronometric mental rotation task with both cubed and embodied figures (human figures, body postures). The results confirm previous results that all participants had a lower mental rotation speed for cube figures compared to embodied figures and a higher error rate for cube figures, but only at angular disparities greater than 90°. It is a new finding that soccer–players showed a faster reaction time for embodied stimuli. Because rotation speed did not differ between soccer-players and non-athletes this finding cannot be attributed to the mental rotation process itself but instead to differences in one of the following processes which are involved in a mental rotation task: the encoding process, the maintanence of readiness, or the motor process. The results are discussed against the background of the influence on longterm physical activity on mental rotation and the context of embodied cognition