Cross-cultural assessment of the effect of spatial information on firefighters’ wayfinding performance: A virtual reality-based study

Abstract

When firefighters conduct search and rescue operations during building fire emergencies, effective wayfinding plays a critical role in protecting them from disorientation and improving the efficiency of their operations. However, whether and how different cultural backgrounds affect firefighters' acquisition and utilization of spatial knowledge during wayfinding tasks has not been comprehensively explored. To narrow this knowledge gap, we conducted a virtual reality-based search and rescue experiment with a 4 (spatial information type: control, landmark, route, and survey condition) × 2 (culture: the US and China) mixed factorial design. For each trial, firefighters were required to find three trapped victims in a virtual office maze within 3 min after a 3-min review of a certain type of spatial information. The wayfinding performance metrics (number of victims found, rescue score, distance to the goal path), direction decision-making strategy, and cognitive load of 62 firefighter participants were measured and analyzed. The results indicated that spatial information type, culture, and the interaction influence between them all significantly affected the firefighters' wayfinding performance. We found that the route and survey information contributed to firefighters' wayfinding performance with different degrees of influence on the US and Chinese firefighters; whereas the landmark information increased firefighters’ cognitive load and impaired their wayfinding performance. We also found that the acquisition and utilization process of spatial information for navigation varied among different cultures. The findings of this study are expected to help develop better training strategies for firefighters, as well as improve their safety and efficiency during search and rescue operations.