Spatial orientation and directional judgments in pilots vs. nonpilots

01 Pubblicazione su rivista
Verde Paola, Angelino Gregorio, Piccolo Francesco, Carrozzo Paolo, Bottiglieri Alessia, Lugli Laura, PICCARDI Laura, aella Nori Raff
ISSN: 2375-6314

BACKGROUND: Reading a map requires the ability to judge one ’ s position in a large-scale space from information presented in a
small-scale representation. Individuals are more accurate and faster in making judgments when the “ up ” direction on the
map is the same as the “ forward ” direction of the environment, which is when a map is aligned with the perspective of
the spatial layout they have learned (alignment eff ect). The aim of this study was to explore whether military pilots, who
have high spatial abilities, would not show the alignment eff ect compared with nonpilots.
METHODS: Recruited were 20 military pilots and 20 nonpilots. Mean fl ight hours were 418.75. Nonpilots without fl ight experience
were matched for age and education with pilots. Subjects were asked to learn a map and to perform directional
judgments to verify whether the alignment eff ect was present considering absolute angular errors.
RESULTS: An ANOVA for mixed designs on absolute angular errors revealed a main “ group ” eff ect: pilots performed better than
nonpilots (pilots: M 5 22.60 6 5.57; nonpilots: M 5 82.59 6 5.56). A main “ directional judgments ” eff ect was also
observed: aligned judgements were easier than contra-aligned judgements (aligned, M 5 9.277 +_ 0.938 s; contraaligned,
M 5 11.004 +_ 0.805 s). ANOVA showed a signifi cant “ group 3 directional judgments ” interaction: post hoc
comparison showed that counter-aligned were more difficult than aligned judgments for nonpilots.
DISCUSSION: High visuo-spatial abilities preserved pilots from having alignment eff ect bias. They performed directional judgments
equally well, being less infl uenced by the increased cognitive eff ort requested by the changing perspective.

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