Feedback and Direction Sources Influence Navigation Decision Making on Experienced Routes.

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Navigation Science

Background:

• Individuals often use external navigation aids like Global Positioning System (GPS) or human guidance, even for familiar routes.
• The decision-making process for navigation can be influenced by the availability and source of external directional information.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how feedback availability and the source of external guidance (GPS, stranger, friend) impact navigation decision-making on learned routes.
• To understand the role of feedback in assessing the credibility of navigation sources.

Main Methods:

• Three experiments were conducted with participants navigating a simulated route multiple times to ensure route learning.
• Participants then re-navigated the route with no guidance, correct guidance, or incorrect guidance from a GPS, stranger, or friend.
• Navigation decision-making was analyzed with and without immediate feedback on the correctness of choices.

Main Results:

• Without feedback, participants consistently relied on external guidance irrespective of the source.
• Participants exhibited the highest trust in GPS but achieved the best performance when guided by friends.
• With feedback, performance did not differ between correct and incorrect guidance conditions, highlighting feedback's critical role.

Conclusions:

• Feedback is essential for participants to evaluate the reliability of external navigation guidance.
• Incorrect guidance without feedback can disrupt navigation decision-making, influenced by the perceived credibility of the guidance source.
• Wayfinding behavior is a social activity, and understanding external guidance's influence is key to navigation decision-making theory.