Acquisition Of Route Knowledge Research Articles

Improved Spatial Knowledge Acquisition through Sensory Augmentation.

Sensory augmentation provides novel opportunities to broaden our knowledge of human perception through external sensors that record and transmit information beyond natural perception. To assess whether such augmented senses affect the acquisition of spatial knowledge during navigation, we trained a group of 27 participants for six weeks with an augmented sense for cardinal directions called the feelSpace belt. Then, we recruited a control group that did not receive the augmented sense and the corresponding training. All 53 participants first explored the Westbrook virtual reality environment for two and a half hours spread over five sessions before assessing their spatial knowledge in four immersive virtual reality tasks measuring cardinal, route, and survey knowledge. We found that the belt group acquired significantly more accurate cardinal and survey knowledge, which was measured in pointing accuracy, distance, and rotation estimates. Interestingly, the augmented sense also positively affected route knowledge, although to a lesser degree. Finally, the belt group reported a significant increase in the use of spatial strategies after training, while the groups' ratings were comparable at baseline. The results suggest that six weeks of training with the feelSpace belt led to improved survey and route knowledge acquisition. Moreover, the findings of our study could inform the development of assistive technologies for individuals with visual or navigational impairments, which may lead to enhanced navigation skills and quality of life.

Landmark-based navigation instructions improve incidental spatial knowledge acquisition in real-world environments

The repeated use of navigation assistance systems leads to decreased processing of the environment. Previous studies demonstrated that auditory references to landmarks in navigation instructions can improve incidental spatial knowledge acquisition when driving a single route through an unfamiliar virtual environment. Based on these results, three experiments were conducted to investigate the generalizability and ecological validity of incidental landmark and route knowledge acquisition induced by landmark-based navigation instructions.In the first experiment, spatial knowledge acquisition was tested after watching an interactive video showing the navigation of a real-world urban route. A second experiment investigated incidental spatial knowledge acquisition during assisted navigation when participants walked through the same real-world, urban environment. The third experiment tested the acquired spatial knowledge two weeks after participants had walked through the real-world environment.All experiments demonstrated better performance in a cued-recall task for participants navigating with landmark-based navigation instructions as compared to standard instructions. Different levels of information provided with landmark-based instructions impacted landmark recognition dependent on the delay between navigation and test. The results replicated an improved landmark and route knowledge when using landmark-based navigation instructions emphasizing that auditory landmark augmentation enhances incidental spatial knowledge acquisition, and that this enhancement can be generalized to real-life settings.This research is paving the way for navigation assistants that, instead of impairing spatial knowledge acquisition, incidentally foster the acquisition of landmark and route knowledge during every-day navigation.

Overcoming navigational challenges: A novel approach to the study and assessment of topographical orientation

Several studies investigating environmental navigation require participants to navigate in virtual environments, in which the proprioceptive and vestibular components present during real environmental navigation are lost. Here, we aimed to provide a novel computerized ecological navigational battery, investigating whether the absence of proprioceptive and vestibular inputs yields a representation of the navigational space comparable to that acquired ecologically. In Study 1, 38 participants underwent two sets of tasks, one performed in a laboratory-based setting (LBS) and the other in an ecological environment (EE), with both including evaluation of route, landmark, and survey knowledge and a landmark ordering task. All tasks, except the route task, significantly correlated between EE and LBS. In LBS, performance in the landmark ordering task was predicted by that in the survey task, but not by those in the route and landmark tasks. Results of Study 1 were replicated in Study 2, in which 44 participants completed a modified and shorter online version of LBS tests. Reliability of the online LBS tests was also tested and showed a moderate-to-high internal consistency. Overall, results show that the conditions in which tasks are performed affect the acquisition of route knowledge, likely due to the lack of proprioceptive and vestibular information in LBS. However, LBS tasks presented here provide a standard battery of tests that can overcome the replicability problems encountered by ecological navigation tests, while taking into consideration all the complexities of navigational processes in terms of the use of landmark, route, and survey strategies.

Virtual navigation for blind people: Transferring route knowledge to the real-World

• Blind people can use virtual navigation to quickly learn real-world short routes. • Most users gained comprehensive knowledge of all routes within three sessions. • Virtual navigation allowed users to complete 60-meter real-world routes unassisted. • When receiving in-situ navigation assistance users rely less on prior knowledge. • Some users took advantage of the knowledge acquired virtually to recover from errors. Independent navigation is challenging for blind people, particularly in unfamiliar environments. Navigation assistive technologies try to provide additional support by guiding users or increasing their knowledge of the surroundings, but accurate solutions are still not widely available. Based on this limitation and on the fact that spatial knowledge can also be acquired indirectly (prior to navigation), we developed an interactive virtual navigation app where users can learn unfamiliar routes before physically visiting the environment. Our main research goals are to understand the acquisition of route knowledge through smartphone-based virtual navigation and how it evolves over time; its ability to support independent, unassisted real-world navigation of short routes; and its ability to improve user performance when using an accurate in-situ navigation tool (NavCog). With these goals in mind, we conducted a user study where 14 blind participants virtually learned routes at home for three consecutive days and then physically navigated them, both unassisted and with NavCog. In virtual navigation, we analyzed the evolution of route knowledge and we found that participants were able to quickly learn shorter routes and gradually increase their knowledge in both short and long routes. In the real-world, we found that users were able to take advantage of this knowledge, acquired completely through virtual navigation, to complete unassisted navigation tasks. When using NavCog, users tend to rely on the navigation system and less on their prior knowledge and therefore virtual navigation did not significantly improve users’ performance.

Spatial Learning with Orientation Maps: The Influence of Different Environmental Features on Spatial Knowledge Acquisition

The prevalent use of GPS-based navigation systems impairs peoples’ ability to orient themselves. This paper investigates whether wayfinding maps that accentuate different types of environmental features support peoples’ spatial learning. A virtual-reality driving simulator was used to investigate spatial knowledge acquisition in assisted wayfinding tasks. Two main conditions of wayfinding maps were tested against a base condition: (i) highlighting local features, i.e., landmarks, along the route and at decision points; and (ii) highlighting structural features that provide global orientation. The results show that accentuating local features supports peoples’ acquisition of route knowledge, whereas accentuating global features supports peoples’ acquisition of survey knowledge. The results contribute to the general understanding of spatial knowledge acquisition in assisted wayfinding tasks. Future navigation systems could enhance spatial knowledge by providing visual navigation support incorporating not only landmarks but structural features in wayfinding maps.

The cognitive aging effect of route knowledge acquisition

The cognitive aging effect of route knowledge acquisition

Retrieval enhances route knowledge acquisition, but only when movement errors are prevented.

Studies of the testing effect have shown that retrieval significantly improves learning. However, most of these studies have been restricted to simple types of declarative verbal knowledge. Five experiments were designed to explore whether testing improves acquisition of route knowledge, which has a procedural component consisting of actions to be performed at decision points (Golledge, 1991). Participants learned a route through a series of connected rooms in a virtual building. Each room contained multiple doors, only one of which led to the next room. During encoding, participants were shown the correct sequence of doors in a manner similar to global positioning system (GPS) navigation guidance. During subsequent exposures to the route, participants were either shown the correct sequence again or had to recall the sequence from memory. Participants later completed a final test in which they traversed the route without guidance or feedback. Testing improved route memory compared to studying, but only when participants were given feedback about the correct door prior to moving through the room. When feedback occurred after moving to an incorrect door, testing resulted in worse performance compared to studying. These findings parallel work on errorless learning, in which procedural skills are acquired more quickly when errors are minimized during learning.

Supplemental Material for Retrieval Enhances Route Knowledge Acquisition, but Only When Movement Errors are Prevented

Supplemental Material for Retrieval Enhances Route Knowledge Acquisition, but Only When Movement Errors are Prevented

Learning Routes from Visualizations for Indoor Wayfinding: Presentation Modes and Individual Differences

Participants (N = 78) studied a visualization of a route through a complex building and walked that route in the real building without further assistance. Erroneous turns on the route as well as indicators of uncertainty such as hesitations were assessed. Three types of route visualizations were compared: (1) an allocentric, map-based visualization with the route indicated in floor maps, (2) an ordered sequence of pictures of decision points shown from the egocentric perspective, and (3) an animation showing a virtual walk of the route from the egocentric perspective. In addition to the experimental variation, gender differences, differences in visual-spatial abilities and differences in self-reported wayfinding strategies were considered as predictor variables. Wayfinding performance did not differ between allocentric (map) and egocentric (decision point pictures and animation) visualizations. However, wayfinding performance was better with animated than with static egocentric visualizations. Individual differences in the ability to encode visual-spatial information from the visualization played a critical role for route learning. Self-reported sense of direction related to egocentric wayfinding strategies also predicted wayfinding performance. Gender differences were attributable to differences in visual-spatial abilities and egocentric wayfinding strategies. Interactions between visualizations and individual differences were not found. It is concluded that animations of virtual walks are suitable to convey route information in complex buildings. Successful acquisition of route knowledge from maps is possible but might depend on the comprehensibility of the structure of the building.

Acquisition of Route Knowledge Through Navigation in a Virtual Environment

A virtual environment was constructed to permit the investigation of the effects of changes in elevation, route distance, and route complexity on the acquisition of route knowledge in the environment. The environment contained 14 rooms distributed across the 2-story virtual environment. Thirty college students learned the location of the rooms through a repeated series of navigation tasks. The results indicated that all 3 environmental characteristics affected acquisition of route knowledge. Participants appeared to learn the room location based on route distance and complexity first and learned the correct elevation of the room last. The findings of this study can be applied to the design of virtual environments and navigational aids that facilitate acquisition of route knowledge in the environment.

Virtual Reality Training: The Effect of Sensory Information on Route Knowledge Acquisition

Virtual Reality Training: The Effect of Sensory Information on Route Knowledge Acquisition

The acquisition and integration of route knowledge in an unfamiliar neighborhood

This paper investigates the acquisition of neighborhood route knowledge by children of ages 9–12. Subjects were exposed to two routes through an unfamiliar suburban neighborhood, with five learning trials undertaken on each route. One route was acquired by actual field experience, while the other was acquired by viewing a video tape. Route knowledge acquisition was tested by performance on navigation, sketch mapping, and scene recognition tasks. Mode of experience had little effect on recognition performance; however, navigation performance following five video trials was inferior and approximated that of children with only one trial of field experience. These data support the differentiation of knowledge types and the need to engage in route navigation to proceduralize such knowledge.