Abstract
A distorted model of a familiar multi-level building with a systematic overestimation of the height was demonstrated earlier in psychophysical and real world navigational tasks. In the current study we further investigated this phenomenon with a tablet-based application. Participants were asked to adjust height and width of the presented buildings to best match their memory of the dimensional ratio. The estimation errors between adjusted and true height-width ratios were analyzed. Additionally, familiarity with respect to in- and outside of the building as well as demographic data were acquired. A total of 142 subjects aged 21 to 90 years from the cities of Bern and Munich were tested. Major results were: (1) a median overestimation of the height of the multi-level buildings of 11%; (2) estimation errors were significantly less if the particular building was unknown to participants; (3) in contrast, the height of tower-like buildings was underestimated; (4) the height of long, flat shaped buildings was overestimated. (5) Further features, such as the architectonical complexity were critical. Overall, our internal models of large multi-level buildings are distorted due to multiple factors including geometric features and memory effects demonstrating that such individual models are not rigid but plastic with consequences for spatial orientation and navigation.
Highlights
A distorted model of a familiar multi-level building with a systematic overestimation of the height was demonstrated earlier in psychophysical and real world navigational tasks
For the relationship between age and familiar buildings we found a correlation of r = 0.299 (p = 0.002) but the correlation between age and unknown buildings was not significant (r = 0.065; p = 0.509 ). It was tested whether the finding of a systematic overestimation of a multilevel hospital building generalizes to other familiar and unfamiliar multilevel buildings
This was the case with a median overestimation of the height of 11% (−41% up to 92%) for local (Bern, Munich) and international buildings
Summary
A distorted model of a familiar multi-level building with a systematic overestimation of the height was demonstrated earlier in psychophysical and real world navigational tasks. The goal of the current study was to investigate whether the reported effect of height overestimation of large multi-level buildings is a general phenomenon with relevance for orientation and navigation. This experiment was missing, since the mathematical model calculated from the pointing data within the building[1] and the interpretation of an anisotropy is not necessarily a proof that we really use mental (distorted) models of the entire building for pointing on invisible targets or navigating in a multi-level environment. We conducted a tablet-based experiment testing healthy volunteers in two European cities
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