Virtual to Real Transfer of Spatial Learning in a Complex Environment: The Role of Path Network and Additional Features

The effects of the amount and type of spatial information on the orientation accuracy and metric properties of mental representations of a large-scale built environment were evaluated in a virtual-real transfer study. Four groups of participants explored different virtual versions of a campus before being tested in the real environment. Learning with or without additional features and with or without a network of pathways led to different patterns of data. Although direction measures and straight-line and route distance estimates were least accurate in the absence of either type of information, the combination of both types of information did not produce more accurate knowledge than either did alone. In particular, the presence of additional features had a facilitating effect only on the direction estimates. The results highlight the respective importance of amount and type of spatial information in the acquisition and use of mental spatial representations.