Stefan Münzer

Navigation assistance: a trade-off between wayfinding support and configural learning support

Current GPS-based mobile navigation assistance systems support wayfinding, but they do not support learning about the spatial configuration of an environment. The present study examined effects of visual presentation modes for navigation assistance on wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. Participants (high-school students) visited a university campus for the first time and took a predefined assisted tour. In Experiment 1 (n = 84, 42 females), a presentation mode showing wayfinding information from eye-level was contrasted with presentation modes showing wayfinding information included in views that provided comprehensive configural information. In Experiment 2 (n = 48, 24 females), wayfinding information was included in map fragments. A presentation mode which always showed north on top of the device was compared with a mode which rotated according to the orientation of the user. Wayfinding accuracy (deviations from the route), route learning, and configural learning (direction estimates, sketch maps) were assessed. Results indicated a trade-off between wayfinding and configural learning: Presentation modes providing comprehensive configural information supported the acquisition of configural knowledge at the cost of accurate wayfinding. The route presentation mode supported wayfinding at the cost of configural knowledge acquisition. Both presentation modes based on map fragments supported wayfinding. Individual differences in visual-spatial working memory capacity explained a considerable portion of the variance in wayfinding accuracy, route learning, and configural learning. It is concluded that learning about an unknown environment during assisted navigation is based on the integration of spatial information from multiple sources and can be supported by appropriate visualization.

Different Interference Effects in Musicians and a Control Group

In the present study musicians and normal control subjects performed an S1-S2 pitch comparison task, which included the presentation of intervening tones during the retention interval. The time for encoding and storing the pitch of S1 was varied between 200 and 1,500 ms by changing the pause between the S1 offset and the onset of the intervening tones. Although musicians outperformed the control group with longer pauses after the S1 offset, this advantage was relatively small with shorter pauses. These results suggest that the advantage of musicians in storing auditory information is not solely due to their superior encoding of information but also to improved working memory operations.

Bridging the Gap Between Media Synchronicity and Task Performance Effects of Media Characteristics on Process Variables and Task Performance Indicators in an Information Pooling Task

The study examines effects of media synchronicity in a group problem-solving task. The media characteristics of parallelism, immediacy of feedback, and reprocessability are varied within text-based computer-mediated communication. The hidden profile task requires groups to exchange unshared pieces of information and to integrate them. Contrary to expectations, asynchronous media characteristics do not support the production of unshared information. Furthermore, asynchronous media characteristics result in higher engagement in integrating information during discussion. Asynchronous media characteristics decrease the coherence of the discourse and increase the mental effort of the participants. Since coherence and mental effort indicate that asynchronous media characteristics impede the information integration process, the higher engagement in information integration is interpreted as compensatory effort.

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

Abstract 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.

Visuo-spatial Working Memory as a Limited Resource of Cognitive Processing

Working memory is considered a cognitive component that mainly serves two functions. It temporarily maintains information that was either perceived but is no longer present in the environment, or that was internally generated, and it supplies a work space for transforming and manipulating elements of perception and thinking. Both functions are relevant for a successful interaction with the environment and it is therefore not surprising that WM is a central topic of research in the field of general psychology. This interest is further increased by the fact that WM is seen as a limited resource that constrains cognitive performances.

From Resource-Adaptive Navigation Assistance to Augmented Cognition

In an assistance scenario, a computer provides purposive information supporting a human user in an everyday situation. Wayfinding with navigation assistance is a prototypical assistance scenario. The present chapter analyzes the interplay of the resources of the assistance system and the resources of the user. The navigation assistance system provides geographic knowledge, positioning information, route planning, spatial overview information, and route commands at decision points. The user’s resources encompass spatial knowledge, spatial abilities and visuo-spatial working memory, orientation strategies, and cultural habit. Flexible adaptations of the assistance system to available resources of the user are described, taking different wayfinding goals, situational constraints, and individual differences into account. Throughout the chapter, the idea is pursued that the available resources of the user should be kept active.

OriGami: A Mobile Geogame for Spatial Literacy

Spatial literacy, the skill of learning about and improving interaction with one’s surroundings, is an inherently transdisciplinary competency transcending from STEM to social sciences and arts. Spatial literacy is central in primary and secondary school curricula in many countries, and not only possesses the potentials of individual success but also fosters the importance of spatial information use in society. There is wide agreement on the transdisciplinary power of spatial thinking: Goodchild (2006) pointed out its importance for curricula in all subjects: from STEM, to social sciences and arts. Many tasks in the most recent PISA study (OECD 2014) on general problem-solving refer to spatial problems. The National Research Council (NRC) report “Learning to think spatially” suggests solutions for geographic information systems (GIS) as a support system to think spatially (Committee on Support for Thinking Spatially 2006). Approaches using minimal GIS for all grade levels at school, when particular spatial concepts were used incidentally, follow this direction in several studies (Bartoschek et al. 2010; Battersby et al. 2006; Marsh et al. 2007). Curricula all over the world reflect spatial competency training, although there are large differences in the way countries implemented this; the spatial tasks, level of abstraction, and learning stage of lessons in spatial literacy differ substantially.

Text Information and Spatial Abilities in Learning with Different Visualizations Formats.

This research examined whether the informational advantage of an animation over a static picture (and over no visualizations as a control condition) can be compensated by presenting the information in the text that constitutes this informational advantage. In addition, it was investigated whether learners’ spatial abilities acted as a compensator in learning with a static picture compared to an animation. Moreover, the underlying cognitive processes were explored by eye tracking measures. Two hundred and one university students were randomly assigned to one to six conditions resulting from a 2 × 3 between-subjects design with text information (with vs. without dynamic information) and visualization format (no visualization vs. static picture vs. animation) as independent variables and spatial abilities as continuous factor. For learning outcomes, results revealed that, other than expected, text information did not moderate learning with the different visualization formats. However, learners receiving visualizations significantly outperformed learners in the control conditions, and learners receiving animations significantly outperformed learners receiving static pictures in a transfer test. An analysis of the eye tracking data revealed that this beneficial effect of animations over static pictures was mediated by a pupillometry measure that is supposed to reflect effortful cognitive processing. Spatial abilities acted as a compensator in learning with the two visualization formats: The advantage of animations was particularly evident for learners with low spatial abilities, but not for learners with high spatial abilities. These results indicate that the informational advantage of animations over static pictures cannot easily be compensated through text information, but by learners’ spatial abilities.

Standardized norm data for three self-report scales on egocentric and allocentric environmental spatial strategies

Standardized norm data for three scales of a 19-item self-report measure on environmental spatial strategies are provided. This self-report measure comprises egocentric spatial strategies, an allocentric mental map strategy and knowledge of cardinal directions as three separate scales, “Validation of a 3-factor structure of spatial strategies and relations to possession and usage of navigational aids” (Münzer et al., 2016) [3]. The data are based on a large sample (N>4000) representative for the population in Germany. Standardized norm data for men and women in different age groups are provided through percentile ranks and T-values.

Distinguishing Sketch Map Types: A Flexible Feature-Based Classification

Sketch maps are often used as a means of assessing participants’ knowledge of spatial environments. However, the evaluation of sketch maps is challenging as they differ in many aspects and can be scored on many possible criteria. In particular, the classification of sketch maps into different types can be problematic, because participants rarely follow any of the identifiable formats consistently. This paper presents a set of criteria that can be used to score a sketch map on two dimensions simultaneously: its “route-likeness” and its “survey-likeness”. The scoring is based on the presence or absence of six features for route-conveying information and six features of conveying survey information. In the present study, reliability estimates and factor structure of the approach were examined with 460 sketch maps with a high variability of spatial elements included. Results show that the two dimensions are largely independent. Sketch maps are found that score high on the route dimensions but low on the survey dimension and vice versa, as well as sketch maps that score high (or low) on both dimensions. It is concluded that the proposed two-dimensional scoring is useful for analysing sketch maps, however, results will also depend on the task and instruction when assessing participants’ knowledge of spatial environments.