Feel the way with a vibrotactile compass: Does a navigational aid aid navigation?

ABSTRACT: Knowing where north is provides a navigator with invaluable information for learning and recalling a space, particularly in places with limited navigational cues, like complex indoor environments. Although north is effectively used by orienteers, pilots, and military personnel, very little is known about whether nonexpert populations can or will use north to create an accurate representation of an indoor space. In the current study, we taught people 2 nonoverlapping routes through a complex indoor environment, with which they were not familiar-a university hospital with few windows and several turns. Along 1 route, they wore a vibrotactile compass on their arm, which vibrated continuously indicating the direction of north. Along the other route, they were only told where north was at the s

SUBMITTER: Weisberg SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5938094 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature