Papers for download

Path choice heuristics for navigation related to mental representations of a building

The paper investigates mental representations and path choice strategies in a multi-level building. Wayfinding tasks were conducted in a vertical grid-like setting. Path choice options were equal with respect to distance, time and complexity. A structure mapping task is introduced in order to analyze the structure of participants’ mental representation of the building. It showed that participants spontaneously divided the building into regions that were inherent to the structure of the building. This representation was the basis for a hierarchical planning process. Trajectory choice was directly related to the representation of the building. Participants’ movement patterns and the structure of their representations indicate that they followed a regionalization strategy that has also been observed in an earlier study (H¨olscher et al., 2006b).

Impact of Regionalization and Detour on Ad-hoc Path Choice

Regionalization has been found to impact human route planning, both when the planning is based on a previously learned environment encoded in memory and when maps are used. This paper presents an experiment in a virtual desktop environment and examines how the length of the path in the start region or goal region impacts ad-hoc route choice, i.e., in situations where the decision is made right after perceiving the decision situation. More specifically, this research aims at quantifying the trade-off value between short travel distances and leaving the start as well as reaching the goal region quicker, respectively.

The Effect of Object Boundaries on the Flow of Attention

 

Taxonomy of Human Wayfinding Tasks: A Knowledge-Based Approach

Although the term “Wayfinding” has been defined by several authors, it subsumes a whole set of tasks that involve different cognitive processes, drawing on different cognitive components. Research on wayfinding has been conducted with different paradigms using a variety of wayfinding tasks. This makes it difficult to compare the results and implications of many studies. A systematic classification is needed in order to determine and investigate the cognitive processes and structural components of how humans solve wayfinding problems. Current classifications of wayfinding distinguish tasks on a rather coarse level or do not take the navigator’s knowledge, a key factor in wayfinding, into account.We present an extended taxonomy of wayfinding that distinguishes tasks by external constraints as well as by the level of spatial knowledge that is available to the navigator. The taxonomy will help to decrease ambiguity of wayfinding tasks and it will facilitate understanding of the differentiated demands a navigator faces when solving wayfinding problems.

Search Strategies and their Success in a Virtual Maze

The study investigates strategies for search tasks in a virtual environment. Participants had to find and retrieve an object in an unfamiliar environment. Trajectories as well as search performance were analyzed with respect to three applicable strategies when the target was hidden at two different locations. Prior knowledge about the environment was varied within participants and between environments. The results show a strong preference for the perimeter strategy. Prior knowledge improved search performance only to some extent.

Orientation after floor changes in regularly and irregularly shaped parts of a staircase.

The study investigates how a regularly and an irregularly shaped part of a staircase affects direction knowledge after floor changes. Horizontal direction judgments were less accurate after floor changes in the irregular part than in the regular part. Also, females were stronger affected by this than males. For vertical direction judgments only relative, but not absolute pointing errors were affected. The results are discussed in a framework of spatial information processing also with respect to implications for ‘design for wayfinding’.

Wayfinding after Active and Passive Learning

 

Environmental Structure, Mental Representations and Path Choice Heuristics – Information Processing in Wayfinding

 

Signs and Maps – Cognitive Economy in the Use of External Aids for Indoor Navigation

 

Methodological Triangulation to Assess Sign Placement

This paper presents a study that investigated the potential effect of an additional sign on people’s simulated wayfinding behavior in a transfer situation at an airport. Participants were presented with photographs of the status quo and digitally edited images of the potential redesign. Path choice behavior, gaze behavior and confidence ratings were analyzed. The combination of the three methods proved to capture the situation better than any of the methods alone. The results provide evidence that the re-design has a positive effect on passengers’ wayfinding behavior.