Abstract
An experiment was conducted to test whether misalignment effects found when people use maps to determine left and right turns also occur when they make cardinal-direction judgments. Prior research has shown that when an exocentric reference frame, such as a map, is misaligned with a person's egocentric reference frame, people take longer to determine left and right turns. Using both a static task and a dynamic, flight-simulator task, this experiment showed that when exocentric (map) and egocentric reference frames are misaligned, cardinal-direction judgments can be severely impaired, more so than direction-of-turn judgments. Analysis of participants' verbal protocols suggests that people use both mental rotation and non-rotational strategies in making cardinal-direction judgments.
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