The cognitive architecture underlying human wayfinding behavior

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The scientific goal of this research project is the investigation of the cognitive architecture underlying human wayfinding behavior. Humans solve manifold wayfinding tasks efficiently on a daily basis, ranging from search and exploration in unfamiliar environments to complex route planning with multiple target locations in familiar environments. The basic assumption for this research project is that human wayfinding behavior is based on a complex and dynamic interplay of multiple cognitive components and processes. Depending on the wayfinding task, these subcomponents play specific and identifiable roles in the generation of behavior. In route planning, for example, wayfinding behavior is assumed to mainly depend on internal factors such as spatial memory and on planning processes, while wayfinding in unfamiliar environments is rather based on the perception of external features such as visuo-spatial properties of the environment, its structure, and on general search and exploration strategies. Consequently, for understanding the cognitive architecture underlying human wayfinding, it is necessary to consider navigation behavior integratively with respect to the specific wayfinding task, spatial properties of environments, and participants knowledge.In a series of wayfinding experiments in virtual environments all these factors are systematically varied. Comparisons of navigation data to generic descriptions of environments, participants knowledge, and wayfinding task will allow the inference of mechanisms, strategies, and heuristics underlying human wayfinding. Based on these empirical findings, computational theories about the use, function, and interplay of cognitive components and processes involved in specific wayfinding tasks will be developed.