Poster #16 - Serial Position Effect on Turn Accuracy in Wayfinding

• In Event: Poster Session 03

Abstract

Objective: During route learning, one learns about a route of turns and landmarks to reach a destination (Yang et al., 2018). The serial position effect asserts that items from the beginning and end of a list are better remembered than those in the middle (Jahnke, 1965). The function of serial position manifests “u” shapes in cognition (Bonk & Healy, 2010). The serial position effect was found for landmarks in adults’ route learning (Hilton et al., 2021). Children aged 8 and 12 years also more correctly turned during the beginning and end of route reversal, route navigation from end to start, of a tour (Cornell et al., 1996). Studies found accuracy for adults’ landmark recall during route navigation (Hilton et al., 2021) and serial position affecting navigational accuracy in route reversal (Cornell et al., 1996). It is unclear whether the serial position effect applies to recreating the original or reverse route in children. Furthermore, it is unclear whether age and gender influence serial position effects in wayfinding, and if testing modality (in-person versus online) would moderate the effect. Method: One hundred sixty (89 females) typically developing children participated in this experiment. Per median split, the younger (M = 5.23 years, SD = 0.68, range = 4.00-6.42) and older (M = 8.39 years, SD = 1.06, range = 6.42-9.92) groups were mostly tested online (ns = 44 and 53, respectively). Participants were first presented with a simulated character traversing a virtual route with 20 commonplace landmarks (e.g., a couch, painting) and 11 turns. All turns allowed two directional options, except the first, third, fourth, and tenth allowed three. In the first trial, the experimenter again presented the character at the start to traverse the route, but the participant had to verbalize the necessary direction before turning. In the second trial, this procedure repeated without feedback. Lastly, trial three featured route reversal without feedback. Results: We plotted accuracies as a function of the 11 choice points for the second and third trials, separately for younger and older participants (see Figure 1) and girls and boys (see Figure 2). Overall, no serial position effect was found in any condition. Conversely, instead of the greatest accuracies occurring within a route’s beginning (turns one and two) or end (turns ten and eleven), the greatest accuracy fell upon the sixth to eighth turns for all conditions. Furthermore, girls and boys and younger and older children showed similar results. Testing modality did not affect the shape, either. The worst performance was noted in the third trial’s choice points three and ten due to the absence of landmarks at these turns. Conclusions: Wayfinding sequences appear more complex than the serial position effect, as these data have little symmetry or uniform curvature. It is suspected that the third trial’s drastic plummets in accuracies at the third and tenth turns was precipitated by their complete visual lack of landmarks, as when the landmarks were visible in trial two, accuracy appears maintained. Wayfinding appears more nuanced than a mental listing allowed.

Authors

• Alexander Dean Bracken, Montclair State University
  Presenting Author

• Daria Lasc, Montclair State University

• Gabriella Torresano, Montclair State University

• Nima Patel

• Yingying Yang, Montclair State University