Abstract

This study investigated the effects of three forms of instruction, (1) landmark, (2) route, (3) configuration, on wayfinding in an actual and typical building used primarily for public assembly. The hierarchical model of environmental development predicts that landmark knowledge precedes route knowledge and both precede configuration knowledge. A goal directed model predicts that the nature of the learning task dictates the type of learning that will occur. Participants were given instructions that emphasized either landmark, route, or configuration knowledge. After a guided tour conducted by the experimenter, the participant was required to find the way to the same destination. All three conditions were equally fast at doing so. Then the participant was required a second time to find the same destination but without the use of certain passage ways. Configuration participants were significantly faster in accomplishing this. They chose the shortest path, the path that displayed the greatest overall knowledge of the building, more often than participants in the other two instructional conditions. After both wayfinding tasks, participants were asked to give written instructions for reaching the destination. Configuration participants gave significantly more configuration information than either of the other groups. These findings suggest that indoor wayfinding can be learned fastest by directly instructing people in configuration knowledge, without preceding such instruction with landmark and route information.

Citation

Kushigian, R.H. Training for indoor wayfinding: The comparative effects of landmark, route, and configuration instruction. Ph.D. thesis, Indiana University. Retrieved August 11, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/128297/.

This record was imported from ProQuest on October 23, 2013. [Original Record]

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Keywords

• Adult and Continuing Education
• Social Psychology
• Technology of Education