Turn left where you felt unhappy: how affect influences landmark-based wayfinding

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Landmarks are crucial for spatial navigation.
• The role of emotional content in landmark-based wayfinding is not fully understood.
• Affective responses may influence spatial memory and navigation efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of affect-laden landmarks on wayfinding performance.
• To examine the effect of emotional valence on landmark recognition and memory consolidation.
• To compare the influence of neutral, positive, and negative affect landmarks.

Main Methods:

• Two experiments were conducted in a virtual maze environment.
• Participants engaged in wayfinding tasks using landmarks with varying affective content.
• Memory tasks, including landmark recognition, were assessed immediately and after a 1-week delay.

Main Results:

• Negatively affect-laden landmarks resulted in the best wayfinding and recognition performance.
• Recognition performance for negative landmarks showed minimal decrease over time compared to neutral and positive landmarks.
• Affective valence significantly impacts spatial memory consolidation.

Conclusions:

• Emotional content, particularly negative affect, enhances landmark salience and improves navigation.
• Findings support the integration of emotion research with spatial cognition and semantic landmark theory.
• Emotionally charged landmarks contribute to more robust and enduring spatial memory.