What constitutes effective wayfinding directions: The interactive role of descriptive cues and memory demands

The main goal was to understand the interactive role that descriptive cues and memory demands play in wayfinding effectiveness. Participants followed directions containing route or survey cues from memory or read them piecemeal during wayfinding in a complex indoor environment. They also provided effectiveness ratings for the directions before and after wayfinding. Route cues resulted in higher effectiveness ratings and faster wayfinding with fewer errors than did survey cues. Interestingly, using piecemeal directions resulted in higher effectiveness ratings and fewer errors, but relying on memorized directions resulted in faster wayfinding. As expected, cues and memory demands interacted such that wayfinding was faster when using route cues than when using survey cues only when reading directions piecemeal. Moreover, women were faster during wayfinding when using route cues relative to survey cues, but men showed no difference in wayfinding time. Together, these findings provide important details about wayfinding processes.