Textual Directions and Cognitive Workload

Bahm, Cristina Robles; Hirtle, Stephen C.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/47335 Copy

Description

Title

Textual Directions and Cognitive Workload

Author(s)

• Bahm, Cristina Robles
• Hirtle, Stephen C.

Issue Date

2014-03-01

Keyword(s)

• human computer interaction
• wayfinding
• spatial information theory

Abstract

This project examines and compares the inferred cognitive workload of detailed and non-detailed textual directions in a navigation task. A user study was conducted where participants navigated through two virtual worlds, one urban and one rural, while following detailed and concise sets of textual directions. While navigating, a secondary task measure was used to infer cognitive workload. It was found that although there is no statistical difference between the detailed and non-detailed directions in both environments, there was a difference between the measured cognitive workload and the perceived cognitive workload on the rural map. A trend was also present on one of the maps that showed detailed directions in a simple environment may be redundant. It is important to know how many cognitive resources are allocated when performing a navigation task because it gives insight into how automatically generated directions, in systems such as GPS, should be disseminated to users. It also gives insight into how to communicate spatial information in general.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2014 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Language

english

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/47335

DOI

https://doi.org/10.9776/14263

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2014 is held by the authors of individual items in the proceedings. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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