The roles of cognitive abilities, instructions, and gaze patterns in navigational map-based route learning

Autonomous wayfinding involves reading (digital) maps and memorizing route information in executable ways. The present study aimed to understand factors influencing navigational map-based route learning. Effects of a map reading instruction and the role of individual differences in perspective taking ability and visuospatial working memory capacity were investigated, considering interactions between effects of instruction and individual differences. In addition, gaze patterns were recorded to gain insights into the map reading process. In 2023, N = 106 university students learned a predefined route from a digital map while their gaze patterns were recorded. Then, they navigated the route from memory in a virtual environment, while navigation errors were measured as an indication of route memory. A pretest-posttest design was deployed, and between pretest and posttest, participants in the instruction condition received specific map reading instructions, whereas participants in the control condition did not. Perspective taking ability and visuospatial working memory capacity predicted navigation performance. Although instructions did not significantly improve overall navigation performance, they had a small effect to reduce the impact of spatial abilities (aptitude-treatment interaction). In addition, a novel time-based gaze pattern analysis revealed that better performance was associated with a consistent reading strategy with fixations progressing continuously along the route toward the destination. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).