Effects of Virtual Map Navigation Mode on Route Retracing

Virtual maps for navigation are commonly categorized as either allocentric perspective maps or egocentric perspective maps, depending on the frame of reference. Route retracing means finding one's way back from the destination to the origin. A 2 (navigation mode: allocentric/egocentric mode) x 2 (retracing mode: allocentric/egocentric mode) x 2 (gender) mixed design was implemented in this study to investigate how virtual map navigation modes affect route retracing performance in navigation. Participants' performances in route retracing, ranked from the best to the worst, were in allocentric-allocentric, egocentric-allocentric, egocentric-egocentric, and allocentric-egocentric modes. The study demonstrated that the results mentioned above can be explained by the effect of the allocentric retracing mode and the consistency effect of the navigation-retracing mode. Females were more affected by these two effects than males, and gender differences disappeared in the allocentric-allocentric mode.