如何找路？覓路測試環境、路線知識、心理地理空間能力與覓路表現的關係

Abstract

空間認知對人類是重要的素養之一。空間認知使我們可以辨認路標、找出空間樣態，以及進行空間的決策。在過去研究中，覓路被廣為使用來評估空間認知能力。在覓路過程中，人類必須記住目的地、必須掌握路徑位置，並且確認周圍環境來決定正確方向，然後不斷朝向目的地前進。因此，心理地理空間能力以及環境知識在覓路過程中扮演重要的角色。此外，一種新的覓路測驗介面，虛擬環境，因為其花費成本比起真實環境找路測驗來的低，而被許多研究所採用。然而，目前沒有研究測試兩種介面上的覓路行為是否一致。 利用Google地圖API，我們創造了一種新的虛擬環境介面：Google街景。在本研究中，將同時測試真實環境與街景介面下的覓路行為。除此以外，研究者也操弄不同的環境知識描述（覓路線索），以測試環境知識對覓路行為的影響。覓路線索有三類：方向描述、地圖描述，以及伴走描述。在伴走線索描述中，實驗者陪伴受試者走過一次覓路路徑，稍後受試者自己反向走過一次路徑。利用便利取樣，三種覓路線索組別各有15位受試者。受試者根據所屬組別給予覓路線索，並完成真實環境以及街景環境的覓路。接著完成一系列的線上測驗組合，包括覓路策略、心理旋轉、工作記憶、方向感，以及地理空間思考能力的量表。 結果顯示，真實環境以及街景環境中的覓路行為是一致的，表示街景上找路也可以達到足夠的生態效度。不同的覓路線索對覓路表現也有不同的影響。伴走線索組的受試者，比起地圖線索或方向線索的受試者，花更少的時間。這個發現與認知拼貼(Tversky, 1993)的假設一致。在認知拼貼中，空間知識並非像是地圖一樣，而比較像是零碎的空間資訊的集合，這些資訊可以有空間、文字、或聲音等不同形式。在伴走線索組中，伴走過程中的不同形式的資訊，有助於更快速並更正確找到目的地。此外，覓路線索與心理地理空間能也有交互作用。地圖線索組的受試者，其覓路表現會與地理空間思考能力、心理旋轉以及視覺空間工作記憶有相關。伴走線索組的受試者，覓路表現則與心理旋轉及方向感有相關。顯示人們會因為對應不同的覓路環境知識，而使用不同的心理地理空間能力。當給予地圖線索，讀圖能力、旋轉能力及空間記憶能力是重要的。相對的，若給予伴走線索，則方向感的好壞會決定覓路表現。

Spatial cognition is an essential literacy for human beings. It enables people to recognize landmarks, identify spatial patterns, and make spatial decisions. To evaluate spatial cognitive abilities, wayfinding has been widely adopted in previous studies. In the process of wayfinding, one has to keep destination in memory, to keep track of path, to decide whether or not make turns by monitoring surrounding environments, and to head to the destination. Therefore, psychological geospatial abilities and knowledge about the environment are of concern in wayfinding process. Moreover, a new wayfinding testing environment, i.e. virtual environment, gains popularity because of it saves time and money than real-world environment does when collecting data. However, no studies have tested whether the wayfinding behaviors in the virtual environments are parallel to those in real-world settings. Taking advantage of the Google Maps API, a new virtual environment interface, the Google Street View, was adopted in this study. Wayfinding behaviors in both real-world and google street view settings were compared simultaneously in our study. Three different types of knowledge of environment, i.e. wayfinding cues, were manipulated. Direction cue, map cue and walk cue (participants were accompanied walking through the wayfinding route) were varied across different groups of participants to test the cue effect. A total of 45 participants were recruited through convenient sampling and were randomly assigned to either of the 3 groups. Participants were given different types of wayfinding cue according to their group and they completed wayfinding test in the sequence of real-world setting and then street view setting. Finally, an online test battery which consisted of wayfinding strategies, mental rotation, working memory, sense of direction, and geospatial thinking abilities scales was given. The results showed that behavioral patterns were similar between real-world and street view settings, suggesting that street view interface had ecological validity as real-world environment did. Types of wayfinding cues had differential effect on wayfinding performance. Participants in the walk cue group spend less time than those in map cue group or direction cue group did. These findings are consistent with the cognitive collage hypothesis (Tversky, 1993), in which spatial knowledge are represented as a fragmented collection of bits in spatial, textual, or acoustic forms rather than a detailed map. In the walk cue group, different formats of information during accompanied walking through the wayfinding route are beneficial to find the correct destination. Interaction between wayfinding route cue types and psychological geospatial abilities was observed in this study. Wayfinding performance in map cue group was correlated with geospatial thinking abilities, mental rotation ability, and the capacity of visuospatial working memory. On the other hand, wayfinding performance in walk cue group was correlated with mental rotation ability and sense of direction. The results indicated that participants exercised different psychological geospatial abilities according to their knowledge about the wayfinding environments. When map cue is given, map reading skills (geospatial thinking abilities and mental rotation) and capacity of visuospatial information are required. When walk cue is given, sense of direction is related to wayfinding performance.