Ecological Validity of Virtual Reality (VR) to Assessing Spatial Navigation in Children: A Preliminary Analysis
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Advisor
Jennifer Yang
Access Type
Event
Start Date
26-4-2024 2:15 PM
End Date
26-4-2024 3:15 PM
Description
Virtual reality (VR) has revolutionized the field of spatial navigation, allowing researchers to study the development and acquisition of spatial knowledge in a safe and controlled environment. However, there is limited research on how accurately VR can assess and represent the real-world construct of spatial navigation, especially in children. This study compares a non-immersive VR wayfinding task with a real-life task in neurotypical children between the ages of 6 and 10. Different spatial knowledges, including landmark, route, and survey, are evaluated and compared between the two tasks. Landmark knowledge refers to using distinctive objects to help find one's way. Route knowledge is learning the sequence of directional choices. Survey knowledge is the ability to form a mental map of the environment. Using preliminary data, we ran a repeated measures ANCOVA with age as the covariate. This was based on previous research that found that more complex spatial skills, such as survey knowledge, develop with age. The results showed that age had a significant interaction with route knowledge (p < .05) but not with landmark or survey knowledge (p = .56 and p = .59, respectively). The main effects showed a significant difference between the VR and real-life tasks in route knowledge (p < .05). However, there was no significant difference for survey knowledge (p = .76) or landmark knowledge (p = .67); this lack of significance may be due to a floor effect)or. These results suggest that VR may be an ecologically valid tool for evaluating landmark and survey knowledge.
Ecological Validity of Virtual Reality (VR) to Assessing Spatial Navigation in Children: A Preliminary Analysis
Virtual reality (VR) has revolutionized the field of spatial navigation, allowing researchers to study the development and acquisition of spatial knowledge in a safe and controlled environment. However, there is limited research on how accurately VR can assess and represent the real-world construct of spatial navigation, especially in children. This study compares a non-immersive VR wayfinding task with a real-life task in neurotypical children between the ages of 6 and 10. Different spatial knowledges, including landmark, route, and survey, are evaluated and compared between the two tasks. Landmark knowledge refers to using distinctive objects to help find one's way. Route knowledge is learning the sequence of directional choices. Survey knowledge is the ability to form a mental map of the environment. Using preliminary data, we ran a repeated measures ANCOVA with age as the covariate. This was based on previous research that found that more complex spatial skills, such as survey knowledge, develop with age. The results showed that age had a significant interaction with route knowledge (p < .05) but not with landmark or survey knowledge (p = .56 and p = .59, respectively). The main effects showed a significant difference between the VR and real-life tasks in route knowledge (p < .05). However, there was no significant difference for survey knowledge (p = .76) or landmark knowledge (p = .67); this lack of significance may be due to a floor effect)or. These results suggest that VR may be an ecologically valid tool for evaluating landmark and survey knowledge.
Comments
Additional Author: Maria Percy Estrada