Spatial Wayfinding Research Articles

Odors in Cognitive Research: a commentary on 'Scented Colours' and an evaluation study on odor quality, with the example of human wayfinding

In his target article on “Scented Colours”, Charles Spence highlights the importance of crossmodal connections by focusing on the interaction between odors and colors. In this commentary and our presentation of own empirical work in this research context, we want to reach out further by emphasizing this importance not only on a perceptual and representational level, but also highlight it as an example for spatial cognition research. We provide an evaluation study on emotional effects of odors that could be used in future interdisciplinary research. While the meaning of odors in spatial wayfinding is, thus far, not well investigated, we want to briefly introduce the current research state, focus on new and valuable research strains in this area as an example for the importance of odors in cognitive research.

Shopping mall retailing: A bibliometric analysis and systematic assessment of Chebat's contributions

Shopping malls are unique retail environments offering individual consumption experiences within a holistic retail ecosystem. Drawing on a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of 31 articles, this research synthetizes Jean-Charles Chebat's contributions to the shopping mall literature. Findings highlight four core clusters of the shopping mall literature, namely spatial wayfinding, atmospherics, consumer differences across shopping mall experiences, and shopping mall consequences. The newly developed Shopping Mall Experience Framework extends Chebat's research proposing additional elements of interest for current mall retailing research. Managerial implications offer practical guidance on successfully designing and maneuvering shopping malls of the future.

Virtual reality video game improves high-fidelity memory in older adults

Therapeutic interventions have not yet been shown to demonstrate restorative effects for declining long-term memory (LTM) that affects many healthy older adults. We developed a virtual reality (VR) spatial wayfinding game (Labyrinth-VR) as a cognitive intervention with the hypothesis that it could improve detailed, high-fidelity LTM capability. Spatial navigation tasks have been used as a means to achieve environmental enrichment via exposure to and learning about novel and complex information. Engagement has been shown to enhance learning and has been linked to the vitality of the LTM system in the brain. In the current study, 48 older adults (mean age 68.7 ± 6.4 years) with average cognitive abilities for their age were randomly assigned to 12 h of computer game play over four weeks in either the Labyrinth-VR or placebo control game arms. Promptly before and after each participant’s treatment regimen, high-fidelity LTM outcome measures were tested to assess mnemonic discrimination and other memory measures. The results showed a post-treatment gain in high-fidelity LTM capability for the Labyrinth-VR arm, relative to placebo, which reached the levels attained by younger adults in another experiment. This novel finding demonstrates generalization of benefits from the VR wayfinding game to important, and untrained, LTM capabilities. These cognitive results are discussed in the light of relevant research for hippocampal-dependent memory functions.

Evaluating differences in spatial visual attention in wayfinding strategy when using 2D and 3D electronic maps

With the evolution of mapping technology, electronic maps are gradually evolving from traditional 2D formats, and increasingly using a 3D format to represent environmental features. However, these two types of spatial maps might produce different visual attention modes, leading to different spatial wayfinding (or searching) decisions. This study designs a search task for a spatial object to demonstrate whether different types of spatial maps indeed produce different visual attention and decision making. We use eye tracking technology to record the content of visual attention for 44 test subjects with normal eyesight when looking at 2D and 3D maps. The two types of maps have the same scope, but their contents differ in terms of composition, material, and visual observation angle. We use a t test statistical model to analyze differences in indices of eye movement, applying spatial autocorrelation to analyze the aggregation of fixation points and the strength of aggregation. The results show that aside from seek time, there are significant differences between 2D and 3D electronic maps in terms of fixation time and saccade amplitude. This study uses a spatial autocorrelation model to analyze the aggregation of the spatial distribution of fixation points. The results show that in the 2D electronic map the spatial clustering of fixation points occurs in a range of around 12° from the center, and is accompanied by a shorter viewing time and larger saccade amplitude. In the 3D electronic map, the spatial clustering of fixation points occurs in a range of around 9° from the center, and is accompanied by a longer viewing time and smaller saccadic amplitude. The two statistical tests shown above demonstrate that 2D and 3D electronic maps produce different viewing behaviors. The 2D electronic map is more likely to produce fast browsing behavior, which uses rapid eye movements to piece together preliminary information about the overall environment. This enables basic information about the environment to be obtained quickly, but at the cost of the level of detail of the information obtained. However, in the 3D electronic map, more focused browsing occurs. Longer fixations enable the user to gather detailed information from points of interest on the map, and thereby obtain more information about the environment (such as material, color, and depth) and determine the interaction between people and the environment. However, this mode requires a longer viewing time and greater use of directed attention, and therefore may not be conducive to use over a longer period of time. After summarizing the above research findings, the study suggests that future electronic maps can consider combining 2D and 3D modes to simultaneously display electronic map content. Such a mixed viewing mode can provide a more effective viewing interface for human–machine interaction in cyberspace.

Querying Cardinal Directions between Complex Objects in Data Warehouses

Data warehouses help to store and analyze large multidimensional datasets and provide enterprise decision support. With an increased availability of spatial data in recent years, several new strategies have been proposed to enable their integration into data warehouses and and perform complex OLAP analysis. Cardinal directions have turned out to be very important qualitative spatial relations due to their numerous applications in spatial wayfinding, GIS, qualitative spatial reasoning and in domains such as cognitive sciences, AI and robotics. They are frequently used as selection and restriction criteria in spatial queries. In data warehouses, cardinal directions can be used to perform spatial OLAP and feature navigation operations. In this article, we introduce and develop the Objects Interaction Graticule OIG approach to query the cardinal direction relations among spatio-temporal objects in data warehouses. First, we apply a tiling strategy that determines the zones belonging to the nine cardinal directions of each spatial object at a particular time and intersects them. This leads to a collection of grids over time called the Objects Interaction Graticule OIG. For each grid cell, the information about the spatial objects that intersect it is stored in a Objects Interaction Matrix. In the second phase, an interpretation method is applied to these matrices to determine the cardinal direction between the moving objects. The results obtained for each valid instant over the objects' lifetime describe the variation in the objects movement over time. This is integrated as a spatio-temporal OLAP operation in a novel moving objects data warehouse MODW that provides an extensible framework for supporting complex structured objects. Finally, we define new directional predicates that extend MDX querying and leverage OLAP between moving objects.

The Role of Theory in Furthering Evidence-Based Practice

This issue of HERD presents a fascinating array of research ranging from the development of substantive findings, to measurement development, to meta-analysis. All of these research purposes are exceptionally important for the development of a robust research base for evidence-based design. In these articles, the authors note the limitations of their work in regard to generalizability, measurement problems, and so forth, all of which remain symptomatic of much research in this domain. Simultaneously, the studies reflect a willingness to push the domain ahead, whether in terms of research strategy (e.g., retrospective data analysis or meta-analysis) or instrument development. There is much to learn from this collection of articles; a brief discussion of each follows.Brooks and colleagues conducted a two-part, highly exploratory pilot study regarding the design of nightstands. The first study involved 28 participants in assisted living or rehabilitation settings who were interviewed in regard to their use and perceptions of nightstands. The second study involved interviews of 36 university students and 36 older adults regarding perceptions of a smart design for a nightstand or side table. One should be circumspect about drawing conclusions from such an exploratory study because of sample size, problems of construct validity, and issues associated with research design.Lorenz and Dreher conducted a retrospective study that compared private and shared hospital rooms with regard to the occurrence of falls, hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates, and risk for social isolation. Unfortunately the sample was extremely small (five falls in 166 patients; nine occurrences of HAI); thus, empirical conclusions in the study should be considered with caution. The authors acknowledge this limitation.Foureur and colleagues provide an update on the ongoing development of the Birth Unit Design Spatial Evaluation Tool (BUDSET), designed to assess the optimality of birth settings. The intriguing conceptual model underlying the development of this tool posits that optimal birth settings both facilitate effective communication and decrease patient and staff stress, which are mediated by the design of the birth unit as well as the model of care employed. The authors identify four critical spatial domains for birthing units: responses to the fear cascade, and facility characteristics, aesthetics, and support. Each of these is manifested by multiple characteristics, which are assessed through specific observable phenomena. The tool could discriminate between labor ward settings and birth centers, but the internal validity of half of the characteristics was unacceptable, suggesting the need for significant refinement of the tool.Algase and colleagues report on a cross-sectional observational study that compares two approaches to assessing the experiential attribute of crowding in long-term care settings. Crowding was assessed in two ways: first, by a simple count of people present in the room or area being observed; second, by means of the Long-Term Care Crowding Index (LTC-CI) developed by the authors. This study highlights different levels of crowding between nursing homes and assisted living facilities as well as variations between types of room and time of day. The LTC-CI advances the body of knowledge by attempting to account for density and to identify the role proximity plays in the assessment of crowding.Marquardt's contribution is a meta-analysis of the literature on spatial wayfinding for people with dementia. This extensive literature review makes clear a tangible connection between neuroscience and architectural design by suggesting that the optimization of spatial configuration and environmental cueing affects the orientation processes of people with dementia. Marquardt determines that limiting choice points, making environmental amenities visually accessible, and reinforcing wayfinding through appropriate environmental cues and signage are likely to provide a more supportive wayfinding environment. …