Reduction of Map Information Regulates Visual Attention without Affecting Route Recognition Performance (original) (raw)
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Effects of visual map complexity on the attentional processing of landmarks
PLOS ONE, 2020
In the era of smartphones, route-planning and navigation is supported by freely and globally available web mapping services, such as OpenStreetMap or Google Maps. These services provide digital maps, as well as route planning functions that visually highlight the suggested route in the map. Additionally, such digital maps contain landmark pictograms, i.e. representations of salient objects in the environment. These landmark representations are, amongst other reference points, relevant for orientation, route memory, and the formation of a cognitive map of the environment. The amount of visible landmarks in maps used for navigation and route planning depends on the width of the displayed margin areas around the route. The amount of further reference points is based on the visual complexity of the map. This raises the question how factors like the distance of landmark representations to the route and visual map complexity determine the relevance of specific landmarks for memorizing a route. In order to answer this question, two experiments that investigated the relation between eye fixation patterns on landmark representations, landmark positions, route memory and visual map complexity were carried out. The results indicate that the attentional processing of landmark representations gradually decreases with an increasing distance to the route, decision points and potential decision points. Furthermore, this relation was found to be affected by the visual complexity of the map. In maps with low visual complexity, landmark representations further away from the route are fixated. However, route memory was not found to be affected by visual complexity of the map. We argue that map users might require a certain amount of reference points to form spatial relations as a foundation for a mental representation of space. As maps with low visual complexity offer less reference points, people need to scan a wider area. Therefore, visual complexity of the area displayed in a map should be considered in navigation-oriented map design by increasing displayed margins around the route in maps with a low visual complexity. In order to verify our assumption that the amount of reference points not only affects visual attention processes, but also the formation of a mental representation of space, additional research is required.
Effects of Marked Routes in You-are-Here Maps on Navigation Performance and Cognitive Mapping
American Journal of Applied Psychology, 2014
A You-are-here map (YAH map) is a popular way to guide way-searchers (i.e. a person who is navigating in a more or less unknown area to a specific goal) through a designated area. With current technologies, information such as the current position and the optimal route to a chosen destination can be provided easily by marking the route in a map. In our study, we investigated the advantages and disadvantages of such marked routes on navigation performance in desktop virtual environments. 24 participants navigated through a 2 ½ D virtual environment. Navigation performance was measured by navigation time and number of deficiencies. In order to separate effects of cognitive maps from those of navigation performance, participants were asked to draw sketch maps after each trial. The results showed that participants who were shown the optimal route marked in the map beforehand, exhibited impaired knowledge of the environment and impaired navigation performance compared with those viewing the map without the route, independent of route complexity or viewing time of the map. Although map goodness was only slightly better when the route was not marked, the representation of the periphery was rated significantly better. Only route accuracy was better in the condition in which the route was marked. The results are interpreted in such way that basic impairments arise in cognitive mapping when reading a map of the designated area with a marked route, resulting in worse navigation performance.
2023
Landmarks play a crucial role in map reading and in the formation of mental spatial models. Especially when following a route to get to a fixed destination, landmarks are crucial orientation aids. Which objects from the multitude of spatial objects in an environment are suitable as landmarks and, for example, can be automatically displayed in navigation systems has hardly been clarified. The analysis of Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) offers the possibility of no longer having to separate methodologically between active and passive salience of landmarks in order to gain insights into the effect of landmarks on orientation ability or memory performance. Since the users (groups) involved are map producers and map users at the same time, an analysis of the user behavior of user-generated maps provides in-depth insights into cognitive processes and enables the direct derivation of basic methodological principles for map design. The landmarks determined on the basis of the VGI and entered as signs in maps can provide indications of the required choice, number, and position of landmarks that users need in order to orientate themselves in space with the help of maps. The results of several empirical studies show which landmark pictograms from OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps are cognitively processed quickly by users and which spatial position they must have in order to be able to increase memory performance, for example, during route learning.
The role of attention in spatial learning during simulated route navigation
Environment and Planning A, 1999
Previous research has demonstrated the importance of attention in the development of survey (or configural) knowledge of the environment. However, it is unclear if attention is also necessary for the development of route knowledge. Our aim in this paper is to evaluate the specific role of attention in the acquisition of both route and survey knowledge during simulated navigation. In four experiments, subjects in a condition of full or divided attention were presented a series of routes through a simulated environment. Spatial learning was assessed by having subjects discriminate between old and novel route segments in a subsequent recognition test. Novel route segments consisted of old landmarks from the same route but in the wrong order or with wrong turns, or consisted of old landmarks from two separate routes, or contained old landmarks in new spatial relations to one another. Divided attention disrupted memory for sequences of landmarks (experiment 1), landmark-turn associations (experiment 2), landmark-route associations (experiment 3), and spatial relations between landmarks (experiment 4). Together, these results show that even relatively simple components of spatial learning during navigation require attention. Furthermore, divided attention disrupts the acquisition of spatial knowledge at both the route level and the survey level.
Where Is It (in the Map)? Recall and Recognition of Spatial Information
Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization, 2017
Findings of empirical studies of spatial memory using maps are direct responses to the successful transfer and processing of map information. The memory performance of map users is an important indication of the quality of a map design. Studies of spatial memory have mainly relied on recall performances, but maps can be used in various ways depending on the map user's task and applied strategy. Therefore, one memory paradigm does not cover the entire spectrum of options for examining the retrieval of map information. Three different experiments were designed to analyze and compare memory performances using different map information in recall and recognition (combining episodic and semantic memory) paradigms. The results demonstrate that map complexity, as varied by the amount of displayed map detail, contributes significantly to memory performance. Moreover, memory enhancement affected by map-structuring elements (grids) depends on the respective paradigm and also on the visual ...
The role of highlighting in visual search through maps
Spatial Vision, 2004
An experiment was conducted in which participants performed a simulated vehicle dispatching task using a map display with two information domains. The intensity of one information domain was varied to examine the effect on processing the information in a cluttered display. Response times were recorded for questions either requiring focused attention on a particular information domain or divided attention between the two information domains. The results of the present experiments indicate that it is possible to "declutter" a display without erasing any information. By "lowlighting" one information domain and keeping the other domain at a fairly high intensity level, performance on tasks requiring divided attention is optimal, as is performance on tasks requiring focused attention to one domain exclusively. These results are also discussed in conjunction with a computational model of the effects of discriminability and salience on performance in a cluttered display with variable intensity codings used to visually segregate different domains of information.
Does map-dimensionality affect map processing? An eye-movement study
Maps help people to navigate in new or unfamiliar environments. This is especially true of 'You-Are-Here' maps. However, not all maps are the same. For example, some maps represent environmental information in a three-dimensional (3-D) manner whereas others do so in two dimensions (2-D). As yet, however,it is unclear whether the dimensionality of maps affects their intelligibility. Therefore, the present study attempted to answer this question by analysing the eye-movements of perceivers (n=20) as they looked at 2-D and 3-D versions of simulated 'You-Are-Here' directional maps. In contrast to expectations, results showed that the eye-fixation durations elicited by 3-D maps did not differ significantly from those elicited by their 2-D equivalents. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 2020
The aim of this study was to investigate whether different expressions of landmarks and paths have different influences on the navigational efficiency and the cognitive load of indoor maps. The study tested 80 subjects by indoor path discovery experiments and measured their cognitive loads with the Cooper–Harper scale. According to the results, we extracted some key landmarks from all landmarks of the experimental indoor map and evaluated the saliency degree of each path. Then, the study tested subjects with four different types of experimental indoor maps by path-recognition tasks. The results showed that maps with key landmarks are more effective in terms of navigation than those with full landmarks, but there were no significant differences between their cognitive loads. Maps with highlighted paths are more effective in terms of navigation, and their cognitive loads are much lower than those without highlighted paths. In addition, this study found that women's cognitive loads...
The interaction of map resolution and spatial abilities on map learning
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 2009
This study investigated how the addition of enhanced perceptual detail in a navigation interface interacts with learner characteristics and ultimately impacts learning; specifically memory for a route on a map. Previous research has shown both facilitative and prohibitive effect of adding perceptual detail to user interfaces. However, it is not clear how adding this kind of resolution might also interact with learner abilities. This study evaluated how well routes were remembered from maps that were either enhanced with actual satellite photography or presented in more traditional (low resolution) form by learners who differed in spatial ability. Results indicated that learners recalled a mapped route significantly better in the low perceptual detail condition than in the high detail condition and spatial visualization ability significantly predicted success on these tasks whereas mental rotation ability did not. Thus, it appears that the addition of perceptual detail not only affects learning, but also interacts with learner ability. r
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2016
Grid lines and visual detail in topographic maps support the encoding and recognition of object locations. Perception-based and knowledge-based functions are discussed to contribute to these effects, but little is known about how participants process such map elements. An eye-tracking study was conducted where participants were asked to learn object locations in topographic maps. The behavioural data of this recognition memory paradigm support the assumption of memory-enhancing functions of grids and topographic detail. Eye-movement data reveal that during encoding, grids and topographic detail trigger attentional shifts towards to-be-learned object locations. These eye-movement patterns are likely one factor contributing to an improved memory performance. Moreover, already the first fixations on a map are affected by the experimental manipulations. This result is particularly visible in the recognition phase and apparently indicates that grids and topographic detail get integrated into the mental representation of the map.