The effects of synchrony on spatial cue choice in a virtual wayfinding task

Optimal navigation strategies might differ in different environments. In a closed environment (such as a corridor in a building) local cues at junctions would be best to learn a route. In an open environment distal cues allow a person to gain overall orientation, essential for identifying shortcuts and new paths. A lack of flexibility in strategy use will result in poor performance when navigating a varied environment. The aim of the current study is to examine how best to elicit flexible use of navigational strategies using a synchronous intervention shown to enhance prosocial behaviour. Sixty-eight undergraduate psychology students were trained to navigate a route through a virtual environment which contained both distal and local cues. They were tested from a novel start position to see if they used local or distal cues. Next participants were exposed to either a synchronous or asynchronous intervention where the experimenter moved either in or out of harmony with the participant. Before returning to the maze, participants were told the benefit of either their original cue-type or the alternative. When participants where re-tested in the maze, those in the synchronous group informed of the alternative cue-type switched more than those in the asynchronous group. This result of enabling more flexible navigation is crucial to the goal of improving spatial skills and the study demonstrates a novel use of synchrony in a spatial task to achieve this aim.