There is a widespread usability for virtual environments (VEs) nowadays. One can either navigate in a virtual campus or a virtual museum with a reasonable effort. Technological improvements provide people with many opportunities for means of navigation in many areas from education to entertainment by using VEs. Spatial factors that are significant for spatial navigation are effective to explore the potential of VEs. The performance of people while navigating in a virtual environment (VE) can be affected by individual differences as well as their learning method of the layout. Moreover, the style that people use to learn their environments may influence their accuracy about that environment. Waller, Montello, Richardson & Hegarty (2002) stated that the alignment effects can appear if spatial relationships are coded with respect to a special orientation. Making judgments related to viewing perspective and the 180° opposite direction from the learning direction is important to understand the memory for spatial layouts. In this experiment, sense of direction (SOD) as an important spatial ability was investigated considering the influence of gender and learning methodology in VEs. Analysis of the experiment showed that the SOD had a positive effect on the performance of independent perspective participants on misaligned questions. Apart from that, there were no significant differences found regarding to the learning performances of the participants in VE as well as gender and SOD ability.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Virtual Environment, Spatial Cognition, Sense of Direction, Gender
|
