Spatial cognition deficits can be caused by various factors including aging, neurodegenerative disease, stroke, or TBI, and have thus far received inadequate attention in the literature. This study...Show moreSpatial cognition deficits can be caused by various factors including aging, neurodegenerative disease, stroke, or TBI, and have thus far received inadequate attention in the literature. This study aims to further our understanding of spatial cognition in order to progress the field and assist in the assessment and diagnostics of associated deficits in affected populations. Research has outlined the practicality of VR in assessing cognitive complaints. VR can provide ecological validity to navigation assessments and can be used alongside neuropsychological tools to further understand cognitive deficits. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the relationships of presence and subjective navigation ability with objective navigation performance in VR, and to further examine the effect of gender on navigation performance. The van der Ham et al. (2020) online task battery was used to assess spatial navigation ability by requiring participants to complete five tasks testing landmark, location and path knowledge. The experiment was conducted online on a computer or phone screen. Sense of presence in the virtual environment and subjective navigation ability were measured using the IPQ (Schubert, Friedmann, and Regenbrecht, 2001) and the WQ (Claessen et al., 2016). A test-retest design was employed to investigate the gender differences in performance over time. The results of this study indicate that presence is not a significant predictor of navigation performance in the VR task. However, subjective navigation ability did predict objective navigation performance. Additionally, gender differences were found in performance over time, with males consistently performing better than females. These findings suggest a need to further investigate the different navigation mechanisms used by males and females, and the effect that stereotypical beliefs have on performance. In conclusion, this study determined that assessment of navigation abilities is not affected by experienced presence, and thus can be made accessible in an online format. The findings for gender differences and the relationship between subjective navigation ability and objective navigation performance also have the potential to contribute evidence-based improvements in assessments, diagnostics and rehabilitation interventions. Further research is required to investigate the effect of different levels of immersion on sense of presence and performance as this could affect VR assessment of navigation.Show less
Abstract Spatial learning using innovative tools like the Microsoft HoloLens is becoming more popular in STEM fields and education. However, not every individual seems to benefit from this type of...Show moreAbstract Spatial learning using innovative tools like the Microsoft HoloLens is becoming more popular in STEM fields and education. However, not every individual seems to benefit from this type of instruction the same way. This might be caused by individual differences in spatial ability, but also by the cognitive load that AR learning can generate that could vary between individuals. This study tries to investigate several factors that might influence spatial learning when using 3D AR tools like the Microsoft HoloLens. The impact of the factors embodiment, spatial ability, spatial anxiety, and gender on spatial learning are examined and whether there is an relationship between these factors. Participants were 110 individuals between the age 18-35 that performed several online embodied and non-embodied spatial ability tests and had to fill in an spatial anxiety questionnaire to assess self-reported spatial anxiety. A three-way mixed ANOVA was performed on the different factors with two between subject variables – gender and spatial anxiety – and one within subject variable – embodiment in spatial ability, with two levels: embodied and non-embodied spatial ability score. Results show comparable scores between embodied and non-embodied cognition, genders, and spatial anxiety types, hence no interaction effect was found, F(1, 77) = .011, p = .915, partial η2 < .001. Furthermore, no significant main effects were found. The results from the current study are not line with previous research, making it debatable whether these factors are of main influence on spatial learning and suggesting that there are other factors at play. Reasons for the conflicting results as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.Show less
Previous research has found variation in navigation ability among healthy individuals. Instead of focusing on individual differences, the current online experiment compared performance across...Show morePrevious research has found variation in navigation ability among healthy individuals. Instead of focusing on individual differences, the current online experiment compared performance across individual landmarks. Since landmarks work as reference points, navigation could be facilitated by considering their appearance and placement. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether perceptual saliency and the serial-position effect influence landmark recognition in healthy individuals. It was expected that perceptually salient landmarks with a significant height, a complex shape or a salient location would be perceived as more familiar than neutral landmarks. It was also expected that because of the serial-position effect, landmarks presented first and last should be perceived as more familiar than those in the middle. In total, 63 participants, aged between 18 and 35, completed the experiment. Participants saw a navigation video followed by a landmark recognition task. They had to judge whether landmarks were “new” or “familiar” (i.e., shown in the video). For familiar landmarks, they rated the level of familiarity on a 5-point Likert scale. The results showed that landmark recognition was affected by perceptual saliency, which increased the chances that landmarks were recognized as familiar. Salient landmarks were also rated higher in familiarity than neutral landmarks. The findings suggested that the last landmarks were perceived as the most familiar, which provided evidence for the recency effect. However, an overlap between saliency and the serial-position effect might have affected these results. Thus, more research is needed to confirm whether the serial-position effect affects landmark recognition. In conclusion, both saliency and the serial-position effect should be considered when designing landmarks for different environments. Human navigation could be facilitated by including these factors in guidelines for landmark design.Show less
