Route Descriptions Research Articles

A Study on the Cognitive Properties and Usage of Landmarks for the Communication of Route Description

A Study on the Cognitive Properties and Usage of Landmarks for the Communication of Route Description

Analysis of verbal route descriptions and landmarks for hiking

Along with the increasing number of mobile applications for pedestrian use a need arises for more intuitive wayfinding instructions, also for broader use such as hiking. To get a deeper understanding about what kinds of terms and concepts people use when moving in a natural environment and how they describe their surroundings, an empirical thinking aloud study was carried out in a national park during both winter and summer conditions. This study aims at providing additional knowledge on human verbal descriptions of routes and landmarks. The propositions of descriptions are classified into categories and analysed. The results of this study will be utilised for an implementation of a terrain navigator to support such leisure activities as hiking during different times of a year. The results of the analysis of verbal descriptions regarding hiking are discussed and compared with previous studies, and finally conclusions are given.

Mental Representation of Spatial Information in Children with Non-Verbal and Reading Disabilities: Two Case Studies

Non-verbal learning disability (NLD) is a specific difficulty related to the processing of visuo-spatial material. The aim of the present study is to elucidate the profile of NLD as regards ability to process and comprehend spatial descriptions, through the analysis of individual cases. Our study examined one child with NLD (M.N.), plus a second child (G.B.) with reading disability (RD) for comparison. The two children had similar reading comprehension ability. They listened to two spatial descriptions, in both survey (i.e., bird's-eye view) and route (i.e., person's point of view) perspective, plus one non-spatial description. They then answered questions about the descriptions and relocated landmarks from the spatial descriptions on a map. Performance of the child with NLD was poor in spatial descriptions but good in the non-spatial description. In particular, task performance was poorer after survey description learning. Instead, G.B. performed well in both non-spatial and spatial (i.e., survey and route) descriptions. The NLD child was shown to be specifically impaired in ability to mentally represent spatial information in survey perspective.

Would you follow your own route description? Cognitive strategies in urban route planning

This paper disentangles cognitive and communicative factors influencing planning strategies in the everyday task of choosing a route to a familiar location. Describing the way for a stranger in town calls for fundamentally different cognitive processes and strategies than actually walking to a destination. In a series of experiments, this paper addresses route choices, planning processes, and description strategies in a familiar urban environment when asked to walk to a goal location, to describe a route for oneself, or to describe a route for an addressee. Results show systematic differences in the chosen routes with respect to efficiency, number of turns and streets, and street size. The analysis of verbal data provides consistent further insights concerning the nature of the underlying cognitive processes. Actual route navigation is predominantly direction-based and characterized by incremental perception-based optimization processes. In contrast, in-advance route descriptions draw on memory resources to a higher degree and accordingly rely more on salient graph-based structures, and they are affected by concerns of communicability. The results are consistent with the assumption that strategy choice follows a principle of cognitive economy that is highly adaptive to the degree of perceptual information available for the task.

Giving the ‘Right’ Route Directions: The Requirements for Pedestrian Navigation Systems

AbstractIt is more natural and effective to include a variety of landmarks when providing route directions. Many of the existing solutions, however, behave like car navigation systems and do not include references to such landmarks. This research provides empirical evidence to identify the information requirements for an automated pedestrian navigation system. The two experiments discussed within this article helped identify the criteria that govern the relative saliency of features of interest within an urban environment. There are a large variety of features of interest that can be used as directional aids within route descriptions (buildings, statues, monuments, hills, roads, etc). Different measures are therefore required in order to calculate the saliency of the different classes of features. The research revealed that the most important measures of saliency include name, size, age, and colour. The research confirmed that that relative visibility and the direction of approach to the feature also affect a landmark's saliency. The research also highlighted the role that features of interest play in reorientation, confirmatory, and direction‐giving tasks.

Generation of Adaptive Route Descriptions in Urban Environments

This paper addresses the automatic generation of adaptive and cognitively adequate verbal route descriptions. Current automatic route descriptions suffer from a lack of adaptivity to the principles people employ in wayfinding communication, as well as to particular users' information needs. We enhance adaptivity and cognitive adequacy by supplementing verbal route descriptions with salient geographic features, applying natural language generation techniques for linguistic realization. We also take users' familiarity with an area into account. We present an architecture for navigational assistance operating on human cognitive and linguistic principles and report an evaluative user study that confirms the usefulness of our approach.

Spatial mental representations derived from survey and route descriptions: When individuals prefer extrinsic frame of reference

The present research investigates the role of individual differences in preference for adopting extrinsic frame of reference (EFR) in ability to represent mentally spatial information learned through survey and route descriptions. A sample of 191 participants (100 females and 91 males) was categorized as four groups with high (H-EFR), medium-high (MH-EFR), medium-low (ML-EFR) and low (L-EFR) preference. The groups listened to two spatial descriptions in survey and route perspectives, subsequently performing true/false verification and map drawing tasks. They also performed a number of visuo-spatial, verbal and geographical pointing tasks. Results showed a general better performance of the H-EFR group and of males – in comparison with lower-ability counterparts and females respectively – in spatial text recall tasks and in other spatial measures. Moreover, spatial ability interacts with text perspective: in verification test the H-EFR group outperformed the lower groups in survey and route inferential sentences and in map drawing the superiority of H-EFR group was shown with survey (but not with route) text. Overall, the results suggest that individuals with high preference for extrinsic frame of reference are able to manage environment information in both spatial perspectives even if they prefer to express it in survey format. That preference is specifically sustained by spatial abilities.

Multimodal cognitive interface for robot navigation

To build effective interactions between humans and robots, they should have common ground of understanding that creates realistic expectations and forms the basis communications. An emerging approach to doing this is to create cognitive models of human reasoning and behavior selection. We have developed a robot navigation system that uses both spatial language and graphical representation to describe route-based navigation tasks for a mobile robot. Our proposed route instruction language (RIL) is intended as a semi-formal language for instructing the robot to execute a route in an indoor environment. We implemented an instruction interpreter to process the route description and generate its equivalent symbolic and topological map representations. A topological map is generated to describe relationships among features of the environment in a more abstract form without any absolute reference system to treat the ambiguity which can occur when the robot cannot recognize the current landmark. The symbolic and topological map representations are supplied to other system components as an initial path estimation to guide the robot while it plans its navigation task. We conducted some experiments to evaluate the routes which are written by using the RIL instructions.

An experimental ant colony approach for the geolocation of verbal route descriptions

This paper introduces an experimental cooperative and stochastic algorithm for the derivation of spatial routes that fits the semantics of a verbal route description in natural environments. The algorithm mimics the behavior of ants, where positive feedbacks consist of pheromone trails, deposited on attractive paths. The novelty of the approach relies on the integration of the semantics of a verbal route description within the heuristic of the search algorithm. A route is modeled using a graph-based description where landmarks and spatial relationships play a central role. The algorithm is experimented and illustrated by a prototype implementation applied to foot orienteering. Preliminary computational experiments show that the ant colony developed and applied to route finding in natural environments performs relatively well when compared with other meta-heuristics.

“Just go straight ahead”

ABSTRACTSpace is not a given. Rather, space is constructed through subjective experience and social interaction. This paper draws on the phenomenology of Schütz and Merleau-Ponty, the ethnomethodology of Garfinkel, autoethnography and the emergent field of the sociology of the senses to arrive at an account of how space is constructed and lived differently by blind and sighted individuals. Once having mapped the sensory and social infrastructures of the blind and sighted “styles of perception”, the paper considers how a blind pedestrian might try to elicit route descriptions from sighted strangers. Over 300 encounters were recorded. The transcripts of these encounters, most of which involved failures of communication, are analyzed for what they reveal about the lack of congruency between the two aforementioned styles of perception. The paper concludes by suggesting some adjustments to the social model of disability that comes out of Disability Studies, and offering some guidelines for the education of the senses that would substantially enhance the prospects for the meaningful communication of directions between blind and sighted persons.

Detailed descriptions of routes traveled, but not map‐like knowledge, correlates with tests of hippocampal function in older adults

We examined hippocampal contribution to remote spatial memory in older adults by correlating their performance on tests sensitive to hippocampal damage with their description of routes they traversed many times or only once, and with their map-like knowledge of downtown Toronto. We found that performance on table-top tests of spatial location (Smith and Milner (1981) Neuropsychologia 19:781-793) and on paired-associate learning, and the number of Internal Details on the Autobiographical Interview (Levine et al., (2002) Psychol Aging 17:677-689), all correlated significantly with the number and type of perceptual details used in describing routes one has traversed, but not with map-like knowledge of Toronto. No significant correlations were found with performance on tests of frontal function (WCST, phonemic fluency, and backward digit span). We conclude that the hippocampus is implicated in vivid re-experiencing of a familiar route, but not with map-like knowledge of a large-scale environment. These findings are interpreted as consistent with Multiple Trace Theory's prediction that it is the degree of detail of a retrieved memory that is crucially dependent on the hippocampus.

Music cognition and real-time listening: Denotation, cue abstraction, route description and cognitive maps

This contribution is about music cognition in real-time listening. Starting from the distinction between knowledge-by-acquaintance as against conceptual knowledge, it argues for a definition of music listening as an ongoing process of sense-making that relies on epistemic interactions with the sounds. In order to provide a theoretical framework to assess this process of sense-making, it brings together conceptual and operational tools from the domains of deixis, cue abstraction, route-description and cognitive maps. Basically in this combined approach is the construction of knowledge through the ‘extraction’ and ‘abstraction’ of salient elements from the articulation of sounds through time. This articulation can be continuous or discrete, but is possible to deal with the sounding elements in a propositional way, relying on principles of cognitive economy rather than on the richness of full sensory experience.

Do We Really Gesture More When It Is More Difficult?

Representational co-speech gestures are generally assumed to be increasingly produced in more difficult compared with easier verbal tasks, as maintained by theories suggesting that gestures arise from processing difficulties during speech production. However, the gestures-as-simulated-action framework proposes that more representational gestures are produced with stronger rather than weaker mental representations that are activated in terms of mental simulation in the embodied cognition framework. We tested these two conflicting assumptions by examining verbal route descriptions that were accompanied by spontaneous directional gestures. Easy descriptions with strong activation were accompanied more often by gestures than difficult descriptions with weak activation. Furthermore, only gesture-speech matches-but not gesture-picture matches-were increasingly produced with difficult lateral directions compared with easy nonlateral directions. We argue that lateral gesture-speech matches underlie stronger activated mental representations in mental imagery. Thus, all results are in line with the gestures-as-simulated-action framework and provide evidence against the view that gestures result from processing difficulties.

Moving through imagined space: Mentally simulating locomotion during spatial description reading

Readers mentally simulate the perceptual and motoric elements related through text. Sound is one perceptual characteristic of these embodied simulations that has received little attention. Two experiments tested whether movement sounds (walking vs. running) or metronome pulses (fast vs. slow) would modulate reading speed and memory for two different types of spatial descriptions, route and survey. Route descriptions describe environments from a first-person, ground-level perspective whereas survey descriptions use an aerial overview perspective. Experiment 1 demonstrated that route description readers altered their reading speed in correspondence with both movement and metronome sounds, progressing through descriptions faster when hearing fast-paced versus slow-paced sounds. When reading survey descriptions, however, readers only modulated their reading speed while listening to metronome pulses. Those who showed the greatest reading time effects with the route description and footstep sounds also showed difficulty solving inferences from the survey perspective. Experiment 2 demonstrated that movement sounds influenced perceptions of distance traveled such that estimates of environmental scale increased after listening to running versus walking sounds. Taken together these results demonstrate that route description readers mentally simulate a journey through a described world, and these simulations and the resulting spatial memories can be guided by auditory information.

Evaluation of emergency egress information for persons who are blind

Emergency procedures vary according to the type and extent of emergency, size of building, occupancy and type of building construction. There is no agreement on how emergency egress information should be provided for persons who are blind. This research investigated the efficacy of a Braille (Brl) sign, a Raised Print (RP) sign, a Tactile Map (TM), an audible route description activated by a pushbutton and exit signs equipped with Remote Infrared Audible Signage (RIAS) for enabling persons who are blind to travel routes to exits. The efficacy of each format in terms of time to acquire route information and time to travel a route was measured. Blind travellers' perceived needs and desires for obtaining emergency egress information were also investigated. Both RIAS and pushbutton-activated verbal route directions enabled participants to access and use emergency egress information efficiently. Auditory information was preferred above tactile information. Of the tactile formats, Brl resulted in more efficient access to egress information than RP and TMs and was preferred. This research is a first step in addressing the complex issues involved in providing emergency egress information to persons who are blind.

Topographical disorientation in Alzheimer's disease

Topographical disorientation (TD) has not been as extensively studied as other frequent manifestations of Alzheimer's disease (AD). To verify the occurrence of TD and to identify the neuropsychological dysfunctions associated with TD in AD. Thirty patients with probable AD, their caregivers and 30 subjects without dementia (controls) were interviewed with a questionnaire and evaluated with tests related to topographical orientation. AD patients, even those with mild dementia, differ from controls in the questionnaire on topographical orientation and in most neuropsychological tests except for tests of spatial working memory, point localization, three dimension and nonsense figure copy. When the performances in the neuropsychological tests of patients with mild or moderate dementia were compared, only landmark recognition and route description were more impaired in moderate dementia. TD occurs even in mild dementia of AD, a finding apparently not explained by the impairments of more elementary spatial functions.

Spatial language for route-based humanoid robot navigation

A more natural interaction between humans and mobile robots can be achieved by bridging the gap between the format of spatial knowledge used by robots and the format of languages used by humans. This enables both of them to communicate by using shared knowledge. Spatial knowledge can be (re)presented in various ways to increase the interaction between humans and mobile robots. One effective way is to describe the route verbally to the robot. This method can permit computer language-naive users to control mobile robots, which understand spatial descriptions, to naturally perform complex tasks using succinct and intuitive commands. We present an instruction language to describe route-based navigation tasks for a humanoid robot. The instructions of this spatial language are implemented to provide an intuitive interface with which novice users can easily and naturally describe a navigation task for a mobile robot in a miniature city or in any other indoor environment. In our system, the instructions of the processed route description are analyzed to motion actions and spatial relationships via the command interpreter stage. The lexicon, which is implemented at the command interpreter stage, is defined in terms of the basic robot motion operations and it represents the mapping between route instructions and main navigational actions. Perceptual anchoring is used to ground the resulting motion actions and spatial relationships with the robot main actuator procedures.

Representation of survey and route spatial descriptions in children with nonverbal (visuospatial) learning disabilities

This study aims to investigate the types of difficulty encountered by children with nonverbal (visuospatial) learning disabilities (NLD) during the processing of spatial information derived from descriptions. Two spatial descriptions – one in survey, one in route perspective – and one nonspatial description were orally presented to children aged 9–12 divided in three groups: (i) with NLD ( N = 12), (ii) with reading disability (RD) ( N = 11), and (iii) without learning disabilities who served as controls ( N = 16). Children performed two tasks: sentence verification and location. In the verification task, NLD performed worse in survey text than control and RD groups. Moreover, in the location task NLD were worse than controls in both survey and route descriptions, but significantly poorer than the RD group only in the survey description. The results are discussed considering their implications in understanding the neuropsychological profile of NLD and the processes involved by different types of spatial descriptions.

Pragmatic Construction of Destination Descriptions for Urban Environments

Destination descriptions are route descriptions focusing on the “where” of the destination instead of the “how” to reach it. They provide first a coarse reference to the destination, and then increasingly more detailed ones as the description proceeds. We introduce a definition of destination descriptions, along with an analysis of the construction and interpretation of destination descriptions grounded in pragmatic communication theory. We present a formal model enabling the selection of references for destination descriptions from models of experiential hierarchies of urban environments. This model generates route directions for people with some knowledge of the environment. Destination descriptions are usually shorter and we conjecture that the cognitive workload required during their use is lower than for equivalent turn-based directions.

Changes in frame of reference use across the preschool years: A longitudinal study of the gestures and speech produced during route descriptions

This study longitudinally investigated developmental changes in the frame of reference used by children in their gestures and speech. Fifteen children, between 4 and 6 years of age, were asked once a year to describe their route home from their nursery school. When the children were 4 years old, they tended to produce gestures that directly and continuously indicated their actual route in a large gesture space. In contrast, as 6-year-olds, their gestures were segmented and did not match the actual route. Instead, at age 6, the children seemed to create a virtual space in front of themselves to symbolically describe their route. These results indicate that the use of frames of reference develops across the preschool years, shifting from an actual environmental to an abstract environmental frame of reference. Factors underlying the development of frame of reference, including verbal encoding skills and experience, are discussed.