The language of landmarks: the role of background knowledge in indoor wayfinding

To effectively wayfind through unfamiliar buildings, humans infer their relative position to target locations not only by interpreting geometric layouts, especially length of line of sight, but also by using background knowledge to evaluate landmarks with respect to their probable spatial relation t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCognitive processing Vol. 13; no. Suppl 1; pp. 165 - 170
Main Authors Frankenstein, Julia, Brüssow, Sven, Ruzzoli, Felix, Hölscher, Christoph
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.08.2012
Subjects
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Artificial Intelligence
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Female
Humans
Language
Male
Middle Aged
Neurosciences
Recognition (Psychology)
Short Report
Space Perception - physiology
Spatial Behavior - physiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Spatial navigation
Background knowledge
Indoor wayfinding
Virtual environment
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Summary:To effectively wayfind through unfamiliar buildings, humans infer their relative position to target locations not only by interpreting geometric layouts, especially length of line of sight, but also by using background knowledge to evaluate landmarks with respect to their probable spatial relation to a target. Questionnaire results revealed that participants have consistent background knowledge about the relative position of target locations. Landmarks were rated significantly differently with respect to their spatial relation to targets. In addition, results from a forced-choice task comparing snapshots of a virtual environment revealed that background knowledge influenced wayfinding decisions. We suggest that landmarks are interpreted semantically with respect to their function and spatial relation to the target location and thereby influence wayfinding decisions. This indicates that background knowledge plays a role in wayfinding.
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ISSN:1612-4782
1612-4790
DOI:10.1007/s10339-012-0482-8