Effect of Gender and Instructions on Wayfinding Behaviour in Virtual Navigation Task

Description

Page: 116-120

Priyanka Kumari¹ and Mithilesh Kumar Tiwari² (Department of Psychology, T. M. Bhagalpur University, Bhagalpur, Bihar¹ and Department of Psychology, S. M. College, Bhagalpur, Bihar²)

Wayfinding is the process of navigating through an environment and it is influenced by multiple factors, including cognitive abilities, spatial awareness, and environmental cues. Research suggests that gender differences may play a role in wayfinding performance, with some studies indicating that men and women employ different strategies. This study investigates the impact of gender on wayfinding efficiency when different types of instructions (egocentric vs. allocentric) are provided. A sample of 120 graduate participants (60 male, 60 female) of mean age 21.9 years completed a virtual navigation task with either landmark-based (allocentric) or direction-based (egocentric) instructions. Results indicated that men performed better with egocentric instructions, while women showed no inclination for any instruction. However, the effect of instructions was found significant, favoring egocentric instructions over allocentric. These findings suggest that wayfinding instructions should be tailored to gender-specific spatial strategies to improve navigation efficiency.