Effects of home environment structure on navigation preference and performance: A comparison in Veneto, Italy and Utah, USA

Individuals differ in preferences to use route versus survey strategies or distal versus proximal cues for navigation. The current study aimed to examine the effects of environmental structure experience in environment representations. Two groups of participants from Salt Lake City (Utah, USA) and Padua (Veneto, Italy) completed a series of navigation tasks in familiar and novel virtual environments as well as navigation strategy questionnaires. The results showed that Padua participants – compared to Utah participants - had more accurate survey knowledge of locations in their city and country, were more accurate at using proximal cues to remember target locations, and were more likely to use navigation strategies that involved shortcuts. Utah participants did not use distal cues more accurately or use more survey-based strategies despite their higher reported sense of direction and cardinal knowledge compared to Padua participants. Overall the results support that environmental demands shape environment strategies and performance.