Route learning in virtual environments: Strategies in route learning

Emily Farran, Jo Van Herwegen (Kingston University) and Susie Formby completed an exciting project looking at eye movements in route learning in Williams syndrome (WS). We were interested in how people navigate their way between different places. This skill enables people to learn a route from home to school, re-orientate when lost and to give directions. Landmarks provide crucial information for route learning, they enable us to find our way from A to B by acting as beacons (a tall tree) or reference points (a post box). The ability to learn routes and use landmarks to navigate is an essential skill for independent living.

Our study used a Virtual Environment (VE) to present computer mazes and eye tracking to investigate landmark use during the learning process. Past research has investigated landmark use by measuring recall of landmarks after participants have learnt a route. Our research was the first to combine route learning and eye tracking, which enabled measurement of attention to landmarks during route learning. In typical development (TD), determining which landmarks are relevant and use of landmarks when navigating develops with chronological age (CA).