Human Visual Field and Navigational Strategies

Abstract

In this study we use a particular virtual reality environment to investigate spatial navigation in human adults in two viewing conditions. In the first, participants could simultaneously see both landmarks of the virtual environment which inform about the location of the goal (simultaneous vision). In the second, participants could see only one landmark at a time (sequential vision). Basically, conditions differed with regard to the amplitude of the visual fields, which might influence the strategy adopted by the participant to navigate in the virtual space and locate the goal. When people have visual access to both landmarks, they can use all relevant information to navigate. However, when people see only one landmark at a time, they need to integrate the partial viewings of the environment in order to reconstruct the visual space. Consequently, simultaneous and sequential vision tasks involve different cognitive demands...