article

Age differences and the acquisition of spatial knowledge in a three-dimensional environment: evaluating the use of an overview map as a navigation aid

Authors:

Marie Sjölinder,

Kristina Höök,

Lars-Göran Nilsson,

Gerd AnderssonAuthors Info & Claims

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, Volume 63, Issue 6

Pages 537 - 564

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2005.04.024

Published: 01 December 2005 Publication History

Abstract

This study examined age differences in the use of an electronic three-dimensional (3D) environment, and how the age differences were affected by the use of an overview map as a navigation aid. Task performance and the subjects' acquisition of configural knowledge of the 3D-environment were assessed. Impact of spatial ability and prior experience on these measurements were also investigated. One group of older subjects (n = 24) and one group of younger subjects (n = 24) participated. An overall hypothesis for the work presented here was that differences in learning to and performing navigational tasks in the physical world are similar in learning and performing navigational tasks in the virtual world. The results showed that the older participants needed more time to solve the tasks; and similar to navigation in the physical world, the older participants were less likely to create configural knowledge. It could not be established that older participants benefited more from an overview map as cognitive support than younger subjects, except in the subjective sense: the older users felt more secure when the map was there. The map seemed to have supported the older users in creating a feeling of where objects were located within the environment, but it did not make them more efficient. The results have implications for design; in particular, it brings up the difficult issue of balancing design goals such as efficiency in terms of time and functionality, against maintaining a sense of direction and location in navigational situations.

References

[1]

Aubrey, J.B., Dobbs, A.R., 1990. Age and sex differences in the mental realignment of maps. Experimental Aging Research 16 (3), 133-139.

[2]

Aubrey, J.B., Li, K.Z.H., Dobbs, A.R., 1994. Age differences in the interpretation of misaligned "You-are-here" maps. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 49 (1), 29-31.

[3]

Benyon, D.R., Murray, D.M., 1993. Adaptive systems; from intelligent tutoring to autonomous agents. Knowledge-Based Systems 6 (3), 197-219.

Digital Library

[4]

Berg, C., Hertzog, C., Hunt, E., 1982. Age differences in the speed of mental rotation. Developmental Psychology 18, 95-107.

[5]

Billen, E., 2001. Gender differences in spatial ability within virtual reality. Proceedings of the Interact 2001, Tokyo, pp. 627-631.

[6]

Birren, J.E., Schroots, J.J.F., 2001. History of geropsychology. In: Birren, J.E., Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, fifth ed. Academic Press, New York, pp. 29-52.

[7]

Bowman, D.A., Koller, D., Hodges, L.F., 1998. A methodology for the evaluation of travel techniques for immersive virtual environments. Virtual Reality: Research, Development, and Applications 3, 120-131.

Digital Library

[8]

Craik, F.I.M., 1983. On the transfer of information from temporary to permanent memory. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B 302, 341-359.

[9]

Czaja, S.J., 1996. Aging and the acquisition of computer skills. In: Rogers, W.A., Fisk, A.D., Walker, N. (Eds.), Aging and Skilled Performance--Advances in Theory and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 201-220.

[10]

Czaja, S.J., Sharit, J., 1997. The influence of age and experience on the performance of a data entry task. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 41st Annual Meeting, Santa Monica. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, pp. 144-147.

[11]

Czaja, S.J., Sharit, J., Nair, S., Rubert, M., 1998. Understanding sources of user variability in computer-based data entry performance. Behaviour & Information Technology 17 (5), 282-293.

[12]

Czerwinski, M., Tan, D.S., Robertson, G.G., 2002. Women take a wider view. Proceedings of the CHI 2002, Minneapolis, pp. 195-202.

[13]

Dahlbäck, N., Höök, K., Sjölinder, M., 1996. Spatial cognition in the mind and in the world--the case of hypermedia navigation. Proceedings of the Eighteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Sciences Society, San Diego, pp. 195-200.

[14]

Darken, R., Sibert, J., 1993. A toolset for navigation in virtual environments. UIST '93, ACM, pp. 157-165.

[15]

Darken, R., Sibert, J., 1996. Navigating large virtual spaces. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 8 (1), 49-71.

Digital Library

[16]

Han, S.H., Kwahk, J., 1995. Single line display menu. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics society, 39th Annual Meeting, pp. 306-310.

[17]

Hockey, G.R., Briner, R.B., Tattersell, A.J., Wietoff, M., 1989. Assessing the impact of computer workload on operator stress: the role of system controllability. Ergonomics 32, 1401-1418.

[18]

Johns, C., 2003. Spatial learning: cognitive mapping in abstract virtual environments. Proceedings of the Afrigraph 2003, 7-15.

Digital Library

[19]

Kausler, D.H., 1994. Learning and Memory in Normal Ageing. Academic Press, San Diego.

[20]

Kelly, C.L., Charness, N., 1995. Issues in training older adults to use computers. Behaviour & Information Technology 14 (2), 107-120.

[21]

Kirasic, K.C., 1991. Spatial cognition and behavior in young and elderly adults: implications for learning new environments. Psychology and Aging 6 (1), 10-18.

[22]

Kirasic, K.C., Allen., G.L., 1985. Aging, spatial performance and spatial competence. In: Charness, N. (Ed.), Aging and Human Performance. Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp. 191-223.

[23]

Kirasic, K.C., Bernicki, M.R., 1990. Acquisition of spatial knowledge under conditions of temporospatial discontinuity in young and elderly adults. Psychological Research 52, 76-79.

[24]

Kirasic, K.C., Allen, G.L., Dobson, S.H., Binder, K.S., 1996. Aging, cognitive resources, and declarative learning. Psychology and Aging 11 (4), 658-670.

[25]

Kramer, A.F., Larish, J.L., 1996. Aging and dual-task performance. In: Rogers, W.A., Fisk, A.D., Walker, N. (Eds.), Aging and Skilled Performance--Advances in Theory and Applications. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 83-112.

[26]

Kubeck, J.E., Miller-Albrecht, S.A., Murphy, M.D., 1999. Finding information on the World Wide Web: exploring older adults' exploration. Educational Gerontology 25, 167-183.

[27]

Light, L.L., Zelinski, E., 1983. Memory for spatial information in young and old adults. Developmental Psychology 19, 901-906.

[28]

Linn, M.C., Petersen, A.C., 1985. Emergence and characterisation of gender differences in spatial abilities: a meta-analysis. Child Development 56, 1479-1498.

[29]

Lipman, P.D., Caplan, L.J., 1992. Adult age differences in memory for routes: effects of instructions and spatial diagram. Psychology and Ageing 7 (3), 435-442.

[30]

McDowd, J.M., Shaw, R.J., 2000. Attention and aging: a functional perspective. In: Craik, F.I.M., Salthouse, T.A. (Eds.), The Handbook of Aging and Cognition. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 221-292.

[31]

McGee, J.S., Van der Zaag, C., Buckwalter, J.G., Thiebaux, M., Van Rooyen, A., Neuman, U., Sisemore, D., Rizzo, A.A., 2000. Issues for the assessment of visuospatial skills in older adults using virtual environment technology. Cyber Psychology & Behavior 3 (3), 469-481.

[32]

Mead, S.E., Sit, R.A., Rogers, W.A., Jamieson, B.A., Rousseau, G.K., 2000. Influences of general computer experience and age on library database search performance. Behaviour & Information Technology 19 (2), 107-123.

[33]

Moffat, S.D., Zonderman, A.B., Resnick, S.M., 2001. Age differences in spatial memory in a virtual environment navigation task. Neurobiology of Aging 22, 787-796.

[34]

Morrell, R.W., Mayhorn, C.B., Bennett, J., 2000. A survey of World Wide Web use in middle-aged and older adults. Human Factors 42, 175-182.

[35]

Nilsson, L.-G., Bäckman, L., Erngrund, K., Nyberg, L., Adolfsson, R., Bucht, R., Karlsson, S., Widing, M., Winblad, B., 1997. The betula prospective cohort study: memory, health and aging. Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition 1, 1-32.

[36]

Östlund, B., 1999. Images, users, practices---senior citizens entering the IT-society. KFB-Report 1999:9. KFB--Kommunikationsforskningsberedningen, Stockholm.

[37]

Psykologiförlaget, 1992. Paperfolding (Plåtmodeller). Psykologiförlaget AB, Stockholm.

[38]

Ruddle, R., Payne, S., Jones, D., 1999. The effects of maps on navigation and search strategies in very-large-scale virtual environments. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied 5 (1), 54-75.

[39]

Salthouse, T.A., 1982. Adult Cognition: an Experimental Psychology of Human Aging. Springer, New York.

[40]

Salthouse, T.A., 1991. Theoretical Perspectives on Cognitive Aging. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ.

[41]

Schacter, D.L., Nadel, L., 1991. Varieties of spatial memory: a problem for cognitive neuroscience. In: Lister, R.G., Weingartner, H.J. (Eds.), Cognitive Neuroscience. Oxford University Press, New York/ Oxford, pp. 165-185.

[42]

Schaie, K.W., Hoofer, S.M., 2001. Longitudinal studies in aging research. In: Birren, J.E., Schaie, K.W. (Eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, fifth ed. Academic Press, New York, pp. 53-76.

[43]

Sharps, M.J., Gollin, E.S., 1988. Aging and free recall for objects located in space. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences 43 (1), 8-11.

[44]

Shepard, R.N., Metzler, J., 1971. Mental rotation of three dimensional objects. Child Development 171, 701-703.

[45]

Siegel, A.W., White, S.H., 1975. The development of spatial representations of large-scale environment. In: Reese, H. (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, vol. 10. Academic Press, New York, pp. 9-55.

[46]

Sjölinder, M., Höök, K., Nilsson, L-G., 2003. The effect of age-related cognitive differences, task complexity and prior Internet experience in the use of an on-line grocery shop. Spatial Cognition and Computation 3 (1), 61-84.

[47]

Smith, M.W., Sharit, J., Czaja, S.J., 1999. Aging, motor control, and the performance of computer mouse tasks. Human Factors 41 (3), 389-396.

[48]

Stanton, D., Wilson, P., Foreman, N., 1996, Using virtual reality environments to aid spatial awareness in disabled children. Proceedings of the First European Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies--ECDVRAT 1996, Maidenhead, UK, pp. 93-101.

[49]

Thorndyke, P.W., Stasz, C., 1980. Individual differences in procedures for knowledge acquisition from maps. Cognitive Psychology 12, 137-175.

[50]

Tversky, B., 1993. Cognitive maps, cognitive collages, and spatial mental models. In: Frank, A.U., Campari, I. (Eds.), Spatial Information Theory: a Theoretical Basis for GIS. Proceedings of the COSIT '93. Springer, Berlin, pp. 14-24.

[51]

Vicente, K.J., Williges, R.C., 1988. Accommodating individual differences in searching a hierarchical file system. International Journal of Man-Machine Studies 29, 647-668.

Digital Library

[52]

Walker, N., Philbin, D.A., Spruell, C., 1996. The use of signal detection theory in research on age-related differences in movement control. In: Rogers, W.A., Fisk, A.D., Walker, N. (Eds.), Aging and Skilled Performance. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 45-64.

[53]

Waller, D., Hunt, E., Knapp, D., 1998. The transfer of spatial knowledge in virtual environment training. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments 7 (2), 129-143.

Digital Library

[54]

Wilkniss, S.M., Jones, M.G., Korol, D.L., Gold, P.E., Manning, C.A., 1997. Age-related differences in an ecologically based study of route learning. Psychology and Aging 12, 372-375.

Cited By

Bennett CFink PGiudice N(2024)“X-Ray Vision” as a Compensatory Augmentation for Slowing Cognitive Map Decay in Older AdultsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642644(1-13)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642644
Tang LZuo YZhou J(2022)Environmental Boundaries and Road Regularity in Virtual Reality: Examining Their Effects on Navigation Performance and Spatial CognitionHuman Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Design, Interaction and Technology Acceptance10.1007/978-3-031-05581-2_9(109-126)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-05581-2_9
Lin CCheng LYang C(2020)An investigation of the influence of age on eye fatigue and hand operation performance in a virtual environmentThe Visual Computer: International Journal of Computer Graphics10.1007/s00371-020-01987-237:8(2301-2313)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00371-020-01987-2
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Age differences and the acquisition of spatial knowledge in a three-dimensional environment: evaluating the use of an overview map as a navigation aid

Recommendations

Understanding age and technology experience differences in use of prior knowledge for everyday technology interactions

Technology designers must understand relevant prior knowledge in a target user population to facilitate adoption and effective use. To assess prior knowledge used in naturalistic settings, we systematically collected information about technologies used ...
Spatial knowledge acquisition in a virtual environment
Let the Camera Eat First? Engaging the Older Adults’ Reflection and Sharing About Food Photograph to Enhance Wellbeing
Cross-Cultural Design. Applications in Business, Communication, Health, Well-being, and Inclusiveness
Abstract
With the increased interest in older adults’ technology use, and with the understanding the association between ICTs use and well-being, it is important to further explore older adults’ technology use in other life contexts than communication. ...

Comments

Please enable JavaScript to view thecomments powered by Disqus.

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image International Journal of Human-Computer Studies

International Journal of Human-Computer Studies Volume 63, Issue 6

December 2005

91 pages

ISSN:1071-5819

Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Academic Press, Inc.

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 December 2005

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

11
Total Citations
View Citations
0
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)0
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)0

Reflects downloads up to 05 Mar 2025

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Bennett CFink PGiudice N(2024)“X-Ray Vision” as a Compensatory Augmentation for Slowing Cognitive Map Decay in Older AdultsProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642644(1-13)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642644
Tang LZuo YZhou J(2022)Environmental Boundaries and Road Regularity in Virtual Reality: Examining Their Effects on Navigation Performance and Spatial CognitionHuman Aspects of IT for the Aged Population. Design, Interaction and Technology Acceptance10.1007/978-3-031-05581-2_9(109-126)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-05581-2_9
Lin CCheng LYang C(2020)An investigation of the influence of age on eye fatigue and hand operation performance in a virtual environmentThe Visual Computer: International Journal of Computer Graphics10.1007/s00371-020-01987-237:8(2301-2313)Online publication date: 8-Nov-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/s00371-020-01987-2
Tang LZhou J(2020)Usability Assessment of Augmented Reality-Based Pedestrian Navigation AidDigital Human Modeling and Applications in Health, Safety, Ergonomics and Risk Management. Posture, Motion and Health10.1007/978-3-030-49904-4_43(581-591)Online publication date: 19-Jul-2020
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-030-49904-4_43
Osman RHwang F(2018)An instrument for assessing e-commerce web object designs against guidelines for older adultsProceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.100(1-6)Online publication date: 4-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.100
Montuwy ACahour BDommes AKubicki SGirard PCalvary GLavoué E(2018)Older pedestrians' user experiences with two wearable navigation devicesProceedings of the 30th Conference on l'Interaction Homme-Machine10.1145/3286689.3286691(63-72)Online publication date: 23-Oct-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3286689.3286691
Bugalia NKumar SKalra PChoudhary SCai YThalmann D(2016)Mixed reality based interaction system for digital heritageProceedings of the 15th ACM SIGGRAPH Conference on Virtual-Reality Continuum and Its Applications in Industry - Volume 110.1145/3013971.3014000(31-37)Online publication date: 3-Dec-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3013971.3014000
Kumoğlu ÖOlguntürk N(2016)The Aid of Colour on Spatial NavigationProceedings of the European Conference on Cognitive Ergonomics10.1145/2970930.2970964(1-3)Online publication date: 5-Sep-2016
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2970930.2970964
Siriaraya PSiang Ang C(2012)Age differences in the perception of social presence in the use of 3D virtual world for social interactionInteracting with Computers10.1016/j.intcom.2012.03.00324:4(280-291)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.intcom.2012.03.003
Wagner NHassanein KHead M(2010)ReviewComputers in Human Behavior10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.02926:5(870-882)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1016/j.chb.2010.03.029
Show More Cited By

View Options

View options

Figures

Tables

Media

View Issue’s Table of Contents