Adaptive switching of focus of attention in navigation task:
Interactive information picking up makes you a good navigator

Noriko Shingaki

NTT Basic Research Laboratories

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-Shi, Kanagawa 243-01 Japan
Tel: +81- 462- 40- 3676 Fax: +81- 462- 40- 4707
E-mail: shingaki@nuesun.brl.ntt.co.jp

Abstract:

We know from everyday life in the urban environment that there are those people who easily find their way to their destination (good navigators) and people who find this difficult and tend to lose their way (bad navigators). The purpose of this study is to understand the processes of navigation by investigating the differences in acquiring information from the environment and the difference in navigation errors between good and bad navigators.

We have undertaken a car navigation simulation experiment with 12 subjects. They were presented videotapes of routes taken from inside a car. Their tasks are :
(1) to learn routes from watching the videotapes,
(2) reproducing the routes they have learnt and
(3) simulating their movements (navigation) by watching the videotapes again.
The subjects are shown two kinds of videotapes. One presents a route which passes through shopping streets (landmark-rich environment) and the other presents a route through a residential area (an environment with few landmarks).

We have investigated the number of landmarks which the subjects have acquired and the performance of navigation simulation and how these differ between good and bad navigators.

We have observed a number of problems that bad navigators face. The problems are that they do not focus on the navigation related information while they are learning a particular route. Secondly, the information they acquire is not always useful for navigation, and they cannot apply their acquired information effectively in the environment during their navigation.

• INTRODUCTION
• METHOD
  • Materials
  • Subjects
  • Tasks
  • Analysis
    • Performance measure of good/bad navigators
    • Performance of the reproduction of the route task and navigation task
• RESULTS
  • Classification of the subjects' verbal protocols
  • The characteristic features of a good navigator and a bad navigator
  • Kinds of information bad navigators pay attention to during route learning
  • Landmarks acquired in residential area and shopping streets
  • Acquired cognitive map and its application to the environment during navigation
• DISCUSSION
• CONCLUSIONS
• References
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