Wayfinding behaviour in Down syndrome: A study with virtual environments

The aim of this study was to assess wayfinding abilities in individuals with Down syndrome (DS). The ability to learn routes though a virtual environment (VE) and to make a novel shortcut between two locations was assessed in individuals with DS (N = 10) and control participants individually matched on mental age (MA) or chronological age (CA). The results showed that most of the participants with DS were able to learn routes through the VE, even though they needed more trials than the CA controls to reach the learning criterion. However, they did not show flexible wayfinding behaviour because they were unable to find a shortcut between two known locations (unlike the CA controls). The results suggest that most individuals with DS can acquire knowledge about specific routes, but are unable to integrate that knowledge into a configurational understanding of the environment.

► Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) can learn new routes through a virtual environment.
► Individuals with DS need more trials than control participants matched on chronological age (CA) to learn new routes.
► Individuals with DS cannot find a shortcut between two known locations.
► Individuals with DS do not show flexible wayfinding behaviour, unlike the CA controls.