How humans learn, navigate and use technology

I will give a short talk at 1pm Oct/13/2009 (changed date&time!) in the Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA

Spatial Strategies: Routes of Exploration in Novel Environments

Why do some people like to follow the same routes over and over again while others are more curious about exploring their environment? When we enter an unfamiliar space, our cognitive system interacts with the surroundings by either acquiring new information or using existing representations. This interaction is influenced by heuristic spatial strategies, such as finding shortest distances or increasing our knowledge of the space. The behavioural outcome is the route that we take, however, it also determines the efficiency of later navigations. Frequent exploration patterns indicate a functional trade-off between spatial learning and the distance travelled. In this brown bag lunchtime presentation, I will demonstrate this trade-off and further investigate the effect of the spatial environment.

Further readings:
Makany, T. (2009). Spatial Strategies: Optimizations Between Spatial Learning and Travelling. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag.
Makany, T., Redhead, E.S., & Dror, I.E. (2007). Spatial exploration patterns determine navigation efficieny: Trade-off between memory demands and distance travelled. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 60, 1594-1602.