title: Virtual/real transfer of spatial knowledge: benefit from visual fidelity provided in a virtual environment and impact of active navigation.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect the visual fidelity of a virtual environment (VE) (undetailed vs. detailed) has on the transfer of spatial knowledge based on the navigation mode (passive vs. active) for three different spatial recall tasks (wayfinding, sketch mapping, and picture sorting). Sixty-four subjects (32 men and 32 women) participated in the experiment. Spatial learning was evaluated by these three tasks in the context of the Bordeaux district. In the wayfinding task, the results indicated that the detailed VE helped subjects to transfer their spatial knowledge from the VE to the real world, irrespective of the navigation mode. In the sketch-mapping task, the detailed VE increased performances compared to the undetailed VE condition, and allowed subjects to benefit from the active navigation. In the sorting task, performances were better in the detailed VE; however, in the undetailed version of the VE, active learning either did not help the subjects or it even deteriorated their performances. These results are discussed in terms of appropriate perceptive-motor and/or spatial representations for each spatial recall task.
authors.affiliation: Université Victor Segalen Bordeaux II, Bordeaux, France. gregwallet@free.fr
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wallet
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sauzéon
authors.forename: Prashant Arvind
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Pala
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Larrue
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: N'Kaoua
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D011340:Problem Solving; D013028:Space Perception; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D014163:Transfer, Psychology; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D014796:Visual Perception