Orientierung im Raum. Befunde zu Entscheidungspunkten [Orientation in space. Findings about decision points]

Navigation through familiar and unfamiliar environments is an essential part of our everyday life. We have to find new paths and retrieve old ones. Decision points as places where a wrong path can be chosen play consequently a crucial role. The representation and the structure of decision points influence successful navigation. An overview of results on the neural representation of decision points shows that navigationally relevant information is stored in spatial memory and can automatically be activated. Response-time and eye-movement results to oblique and right angled decision points show on the one hand specific wayfinding difficulties at oblique intersections and on the other hand that also the perspective when entering an intersection affects successful wayfinding.