Global Landmarks Do Not Necessarily Improve Spatial Performance in Addition to Bodily Self-Movement Cues when Learning a Large-Scale Virtual Environment

Abstract

Comparing spatial performance in different virtual reality setups can indicate which cues are relevant for a realistic virtual experience. Bodily self-movement cues and global orientation information were shown to increase spatial performance compared with local visual cues only. We tested the combined impact of bodily and global orientation cues by having participants learn a virtual multi corridor environment either by only walking through it, with additional distant landmarks providing heading information, or with a surrounding hall relative to which participants could determine their orientation and location. Subsequent measures on spatial memory only revealed small and non-reliable differences between the learning conditions. We conclude that additional global landmark information does not necessarily improve user's orientation within a virtual environment when bodily-self-movement cues are available.