You've probably been there. You're late, lost, and you ask an innocent passer-by for directions. It begins undauntingly enough: "Left at the lights, straight ahead, third right," ... but then your head starts to spin ... "then follow the corner round until you reach the park, then second right, then first left, you can't miss it" ... You nod and thank them politely while panic privately sets in. There's no way you can remember all those details.
According to
Alycia Hund and colleagues at Illinois State University, there are two ways to give directions. One is using a so-called "route perspective", as in the example above. This adopts a first-person spatial perspective and is characterised by references to turns and landmarks. The other is a so-called "survey perspective", which gives directions as if looking down upon a map. This type of direction giving is characterised by references to cardinal directions (North, South, East and West) and precise distances.
When Hund's team used a fictitious model town made of plywood to test the ability of undergraduates to follow directions, they uncovered a curious anomaly. The students reported finding route perspective directions easier to follow and yet they steered a toy car to a destination more quickly and effectively when they were following cardinal directions.
One explanation is that detailed route descriptions sound appealing, but when it comes actually following directions, it helps if the instructions are concise and vague enough so that if you take a wrong turn you still know the general direction you ought to be following.
Lead author Hund told the Digest that the best wayfinding directions bring together a variety of features that help people reach their goals. "It is important to provide complete, yet concise details regarding the route to follow," she said. "Often, streets or other segments are highlighted, with particular attention to details (landmarks) at choice points, such a intersections. People want enough details so they can follow, but not extraneous details that will be difficult to remember or follow. Moreover, it is important for direction givers and followers to work together to be sure their goals and preferences are taken into account."
Indeed, in relation to Hund's last point about cooperation, the good news is that people do appear to have a natural ability to tailor their direction-giving to a traveller's needs. Another experiment in the current paper showed that students tended to give more route-perspective style directions when helping an imaginary car driver but more cardinal-directions when helping a fictitious person in possession of a map.
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Alycia M. Hund, Kimberly H. Haney, Brian D. Seanor (2008). The role of recipient perspective in giving and following wayfinding directions Applied Cognitive Psychology, 22 (7), 896-916 DOI: 10.1002/acp.1400
译文:
如何指点方向
如果你要去某个地方，若是迟到了，迷路了，你或许会向身边的陌生人问路，然后就会听到一堆让你听的云里雾里的话语：“在路灯处左转，直走，在第三个路口右转……”这时候你或许已经开始迷惑了，接着是“沿着转角一直往前走直到看到公园为止，然后在第二个路口右转，然后再左转，你不会找不到的……”你点着头并礼貌的向他们表示感谢，可是心里却十分恐慌，因为在说了那么多之后你根本无法记住任何信息。
根据伊利诺斯州立大学的爱丽西娅•霍德和同事们的观点来说，为人指路有以下两种方法：一种是所谓的“路线视角”，例子如上。这种是以第一人称的身份来提供路线参考以及指点路标。另一种方法是所谓的“俯瞰视角”，就如看着一张地图。这种方法是通过区分东南西北来指明主要的方向并给出精确的距离。
当霍德的团队利用一个由胶合板做成的城镇的模型来检测本科学生们指点方向的能力时，他们发现了一个很反常的现象。学生们都反映说用“路线视角”来指点方向会比较容易理解，但是当他们试图驱使玩具车到达目的地的时候，“俯瞰视角”的方法会显得更加的快捷和有效。
一种解释就是详细的路线描述听起来会比较吸引人，但是在现实操作中还是依据大方向来指点会来的有效。不管指点的精细或是模糊，或是在哪里走错了，但是大体上还是或有点方向感的。
作者霍德告诉迪根斯若是要找到最好的指路方法，就需要把所有可以帮助人们找到目的地的因素都结合起来。霍德说：“在指路时提供完整、简明的信息是十分重要的，通常包括街道或其他比较突出的部分，尤其要注意在需要做选择的地点如十字路口。人们需要足够详细的信息以确保可以遵循，但并不需要一些复杂又难以记忆的信息。再者，对于指点方向的人和问路的人来说，能把双方的目的和参考都考虑进去是很重要的。”
确实，霍德提到的关于合作的最后一点，有个好消息显示说人们有这样的出自本能的能力依据游人的需要来给出方向。最近的文章中的另一个实验表现学生们在给一个虚拟的驾驶者指点方向时更倾向于使用路线视角的方法；而给一个拿着地图虚拟的游人指点方向的时候会更多的采用俯瞰视角的方法。