Designing for Wayfinding in VR: Linking Navigation Interfaces to Spatial Learning and Cognitive Mapping

Paper Title

Designing for Wayfinding in VR: Linking Navigation Interfaces to Spatial Learning and Cognitive Mapping

Publication Info

• Topic area: Virtual reality navigation, spatial learning, and cognitive mapping in complex environments.
• Keywords: Virtual reality, wayfinding, spatial learning, cognitive mapping, virtual locomotion techniques, teleportation, continuous steering, cybersickness, user experience, navigation interfaces.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Few studies systematically examine how virtual locomotion techniques (VLTs) and viewpoint transitions affect spatial learning, cognitive mapping, and navigation performance in complex indoor environments.
• Significance: Understanding the impact of VLTs is crucial for applications in healthcare, training, and rehabilitation, where accurate navigation and spatial knowledge are essential.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research has explored VLTs like teleportation and continuous steering, but findings are inconsistent and often limited to outdoor or abstract virtual spaces. The effects of VLTs on cognitive mapping and user experience in realistic, complex indoor settings remain underexplored.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A high-fidelity VR platform simulating hospital environments to evaluate four VLTs combining continuous and discrete movement with visual transition techniques (blink, tunneling).
• Novelty:
  1. Systematic comparison of multiple locomotion and transition techniques in a realistic, ecologically valid VR platform.
  2. Two-phase design (exploration and task-based wayfinding) to assess navigation performance and spatial learning under different task demands.
  3. Integration of diverse outcome measures, including behavioral performance, spatial learning, and user experience (cybersickness, presence, usability).
  4. Development of design guidelines for VR navigation systems tailored to specific applications.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Four VLT conditions: Teleportation without transition (TP-N), teleportation with blinking (TP-B), continuous steering without tunneling (CS-N), and continuous steering with tunneling (CS-T).
  • Participants (N=142) navigated hospital-like VR environments in exploration and task-based phases, completing wayfinding tasks, sketch maps, pointing, and distance estimation.
  • User experience was assessed using the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ), MEC Spatial Presence Questionnaire (MEC-SPQ), and System Usability Scale (SUS).

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • TP-B supported the fastest task completion times but reduced exposure to environmental details.
  • CS-T improved pointing accuracy, suggesting better configurational knowledge, but resulted in slower navigation.
  • Cybersickness levels were not significantly different across conditions but correlated with poorer spatial learning outcomes (e.g., pointing error, sketch-map accuracy).
• Advantage over baselines:
  • TP-B minimized disorientation during transitions while maintaining speed.
  • CS-T preserved spatial updating through continuous optic flow, aiding cognitive mapping.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Conducted in high-fidelity hospital VR environments with exploration and task-based phases.
  • Measured navigation performance (time, distance), spatial learning (pointing, distance estimation, sketch maps), and user experience (cybersickness, presence, usability).
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited participant diversity (young, highly educated, predominantly Asian sample).
  • Short VR exposure duration; longer-term effects on spatial knowledge retention were not assessed.
  • Excluded natural locomotion methods like physical walking.
  • Partial factorial design; not all locomotion–transition combinations were tested.
  • Findings may not generalize to other VR domains (e.g., gaming, outdoor navigation).

Summary

This study systematically evaluated the effects of four virtual locomotion techniques on navigation performance, spatial learning, and user experience in high-fidelity hospital VR environments. Teleportation with blinking (TP-B) supported rapid navigation, while continuous steering with tunneling (CS-T) enhanced spatial learning. Cybersickness did not differ significantly across conditions but negatively impacted spatial cognition. These findings provide evidence-based guidelines for designing VR navigation interfaces tailored to specific applications, such as healthcare training and cognitive rehabilitation. Future work should address participant diversity, longer-term effects, and additional locomotion methods.