Abstract
According to an influential concept, humans acquire spatial knowledge about their environment in three distinct stages: landmark knowledge is acquired first, then route knowledge, and finally survey knowledge. The stage concept has been challenged by studies which observed that in a wayfinding paradigm, route, and survey knowledge emerge at the same time and; therefore, were seemingly acquired in parallel. However, this experimental evidence is not conclusive because the above studies suffered from a ceiling effect. The present study was designed to overcome the ceiling effect by increasing the complexity of the wayfinding task. We asked 60 young participants to find their way through an urban environment rendered in virtual reality, and assessed their landmark, route, and survey knowledge after each of ten trials. We found that all three types of knowledge gradually increased from the first to the last trial. We further found that correlations between the three types of knowledge increased from trial to trial. This outcome disagrees profoundly with the stage concept, but is compatible with the parallel concept. Specifically, it is in accordance with the view that landmark, route, and survey knowledge are acquired by multiple overlapping and interacting processes: those processes may start out more or less independently in the first trial but, due to common constraints or synergies, may gradually increase their cooperation during subsequent trials.
Highlights
According to an influential concept (Siegel & White, 1975), humans acquire spatial knowledge about their environment in three successive stages
The review further concludes that in some cases, survey knowledge may be acquired before route knowledge has been consolidated, and it proposes a fourth type of knowledge, termed “graph knowledge”
Four other studies tested for survey knowledge only after route knowledge became near-perfect, which was the case after 3–5 trials; at that time, survey knowledge was already substantial (Iglói, Doeller, Berthoz, Rondi-Reig, & Burgess 2010; Jansen-Osmann & Fuchs, 2006; Jansen, Schmelter, & Heil, 2010; Weisberg, Schinazi, Newcombe, Shipley, & Epstein, 2013)
Summary
According to an influential concept (Siegel & White, 1975), humans acquire spatial knowledge about their environment in three successive stages. Four other studies tested for survey knowledge only after route knowledge became near-perfect, which was the case after 3–5 trials; at that time, survey knowledge was already substantial (Iglói, Doeller, Berthoz, Rondi-Reig, & Burgess 2010; Jansen-Osmann & Fuchs, 2006; Jansen, Schmelter, & Heil, 2010; Weisberg, Schinazi, Newcombe, Shipley, & Epstein, 2013) These findings have been interpreted as evidence against the stage concept (Siegel & White, 1975), according to which survey knowledge cannot be acquired during the route knowledge stage, and as support for the parallel concept (Montello, 1998), according to which survey knowledge is acquired concurrently with route knowledge. This final version of the task was used in our main experiment
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
