Navigational Aids and Spatial Memory Impairment: The Role of Divided Attention

Abstract

Navigational aids impair spatial memory for experienced environments, but the cognitive mechanisms underlying impairment remain an open question. Recent evidence implicates divided attention, but to date no study has directly manipulated divided attention in navigational aid contexts. The present study addresses this need. Participants navigated virtual towns with aid presence and divided attention factorially crossed in a within-participants design. They then completed spatial memory assessments. Divided attention alone impaired spatial memory. Navigational aid presence impaired spatial memory when attention was undivided, replicating previous findings, but did not to a greater extent when attention was divided. These findings suggest that navigational aids divide attention sufficiently to impair spatial memory.

Keywords::

• navigation
• navigational aids
• spatial memory
• virtual reality/virtual environments

Funding

This research was supported in part by an appointment to the Postgraduate Research Participation Program at the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and NSRDEC. The research was also supported by a cooperative agreement (W911QY-09-C-0219) with NSRDEC.