Effect of room size on geometry and features cue preference during reorientation: Modulating encoding strength or cue weighting

Abstract

Three experiments investigated how the room size affects preferential use of geometric and non-geometric cues during reorientation inside a room. We hypothesised that room size may affect preferential use of geometric and non-geometric cues by affecting the encoding of the cues (the encoding hypothesis), the retrieval of the cues (the retrieval hypothesis), or both the encoding and retrieval of the cues (the encoding-plus-retrieval hypothesis). In immersive virtual rectangular rooms, participants learned objects’ locations with respect to geometric (room shape) and non-geometric cues (features on walls or isolated objects). During the test, participants localised objects with the geometric cue only, non-geometric cues only, or both. The two cues were placed at the original locations or displaced relative to each other (conflicting cues) when both were presented at testing. We manipulated the room size between participants within each experiment. The results showed that the room size affected cue preference using conflicting cues but did not affect response accuracy using single cues at testing. These results support the retrieval hypothesis. The results were discussed in terms of the effects of cue salience and stability on cue interaction in reorientation.