This is not the way: Global directional cues do not improve spatial navigation in an immersive virtual environment

Spatial navigation relies on extracting information from the environment and using that information to determine where to go. To support navigation behavior, navigational aids - like maps, compasses, or global positioning systems (GPS) - offer access to easily extractible information to show the way to go, but do these aids enhance spatial memory? Here, we propose the hypothesis that navigation aids support navigation behavior when they are available, but do not necessarily enhance navigation behavior by improving memory of a space. For instance, a compass provides a global reference direction and bearing, showing its user where North is, but may not result in a more accurate representation of an environment without the compass. Here, we present two experiments evaluating whether people learned a large-scale, immersive virtual environment better when provided with a global reference direction. We also explored whether participants used the provided reference direction to anchor their mental representation of the environment, i.e., whether their alignment of their mental map matched the cued direction. In the first (pre-registered) experiment, we found no evidence of a difference in navigation performance between those who had the compass available and those who did not (n = 54). The second experiment (n = 67) also revealed no difference in participants’ environmental knowledge between a compass condition or a mountain range, which provided a global directional cue in a more salient and concrete form. Exploratory results revealed that participants did not use either cue as a reference direction. Our results inform theories for how reference directions can be used to support spatial navigation behavior and more broadly how external cues are incorporated (or not) into cognitive representations.