Detours in labyrinths

Abstract:  The researcher investigated, in six experiments carried out in a closed labyrinth, what different kinds of detours subjects choose around an obstacle.  Subjects were 120 university students (60 males, 60 females; mean age 24 yrs) in Germany. Subjects were equipped with a head-mounted display and in five of six experiments were shown standard routes through virtual labyrinths with a variable city-block structure.  After three presentations of the route, subjects had to navigate the route themselves with a joystick.  In all experiments, subjects were told they would encounter an obstacle and had to find the shortest way from the obstacle to the final position.  The results show differing reactions to the obstacle depending on the topographical characteristics of alternative detours and the visual perspective subjects had during navigation.  Under default conditions (walking perspective, rectangular structure of the area), subjects chose neither the shortest path around the obstacle (strategy of minimal detouring) nor the direct path to the final position (vector strategy), but a city-block strategy.  The results of the six experiments show that, under default conditions, using a city-block strategy, subjects avoided making an insecure estimation of oblique angles, preferring a longer path to the final position.

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