Abstract
A virtual environment was constructed to permit the investigation of the effects of changes in elevation, route distance, and route complexity on the acquisition of route knowledge in the environment. The environment contained 14 rooms distributed across the 2-story virtual environment. Thirty college students learned the location of the rooms through a repeated series of navigation tasks. The results indicated that all 3 environmental characteristics affected acquisition of route knowledge. Participants appeared to learn the room location based on route distance and complexity first and learned the correct elevation of the room last. The findings of this study can be applied to the design of virtual environments and navigational aids that facilitate acquisition of route knowledge in the environment.