Improving Route Directions: The Role of Intersection Type and Visual Clutter for Spatial Reference

Adriana-Alexandra Baltaretu, Emiel Krahmer, Alfons Maes

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    In this study, we ask whether references to paths and landmarks in route directions (RDs) are influenced by environmental complexity, zooming in on two aspects of the visual surroundings, namely intersection structure and visual clutter. Speakers are asked to produce (Experiment 1), understand (Experiment 2) and evaluate (Experiment 3) turn-by-turn RDs in a naturalistic setting (Google Street View panoramic pictures). We find that increased levels of visual clutter and intersections with complex structures trigger more references to landmarks and paths when participants produce RDs, longer decision times to determine what the next correct step in a route is and increased preference for landmarks. Finally, we discuss possible implications for automatic RD generation.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)647-660
    Number of pages14
    JournalApplied Cognitive Psychology
    Volume29
    Issue number5
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 14 Jul 2015

    Keywords

    • landmarks
    • visual clutter
    • complex intersections
    • route directions
    • referring expressions

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