Comparison of Configurational, Wayfinding and Cognitive Correlates in Real and Virtual Settings

Keywords: Wayfinding, Environmental Cognition, Virtual Immersive Environments, Virtual Reality, Experimentations, Data Collection, Space Syntax

Abstract

The role of configuration in human cognition and wayfinding has been considered important by numerous researchers. In this regard, experiments have suggested that the topology based configurational analysis of Space Syntax is a significant predictor of both. However, these experiments were mostly done in real settings without sufficient control of extraneous variables. Observations of wayfinding behavior were measured by the number of times an axial space was used (Haq, 2003; Peponis, 1990), and cognitive understanding was measured (among others) by the number of times an axial line appeared in sketch maps (Haq and Girotto, 2003; Kim, 2001). These measures correlated well with syntactic values of the spaces, yet, the experiments can be criticized because they did not address the presence of, or the interrelationships with, other environmental variables such as signs and numbers, architectural differentiation and perceptual access (Weisman, 1989)

These drawbacks can be overcome with the evolving technology of Virtual Immersive Environments with User Controlled Movement (VIEUCoM). Such systems in experiments offer the possibility of controlling for all kinds of extraneous variables and introducing each one into the model in a systematic manner.

This was the purpose of the research that is reported in this paper. It uses data obtained from two wayfinding experiments: one done earlier in a real life hospital setting (67 subjects, Haq 2001) and the other done in a VIEUCoM model of the same environment where 32 users carried out the same tasks as the previous experiment which was in the real world. The first section of this paper provides a review of the earlier experiment. It then reports the processes and pitfalls of developing the VIEUCoM system. The paper then describes the wayfinding experiment that was carried out in this VIEUCoM. Pilot study findings and modification to the experimental methods are also reported. The most significant and final part of this paper compares movement and cognition data from the VIEUCoM system to that obtained earlier from the real setting.

 Analysis of the two data sets suggests that wayfinding correlates with real world variables are remarkably similar to that of the VIEWCoM system. On one hand it brings out the dominant role of configuration, but on the other, it identifies a focused area regarding the relationships between configuration and other environmental variables including locational characteristics and scale. Such issues are discussed in the conclusion of the paper and possibilities of further experimentation are proposed.

Environment and Planning B, Vol 30, Pion Publications, London, 2003.

Abstract

Space Syntax research has had significant success over the years and has served to illustrate the importance of configurational measures; especially those that take into account all the spaces in a system. Here, assumptions of axial lines as elementary spatial units have been overwhelming. Although based on a theoretical construct of visibility, this postulation has rarely been extended to perception or cognition and has given rise to questions about geometric and metric considerations.

The research presented here was carried out in three large urban hospitals. In them, 128 volunteers performed ‘open searches’ where they attempted to become familiar with the hospital, ‘directed searches’ where they sought specific locations and various cognitive mapping tasks such as pointing to locations that were not within sight and sketching the hospital’s main corridors and routes. The hospitals themselves were analyzed through conventional syntax measures of axial lines and a segmented version of those lines.

Correlational and regression analyses revealed that while use of space was best predicted by local measures (connectivity), yet distribution of people was better explained through integration-3. Performance comparisons between the environ mental measures given by ‘whole’ and segmented lines suggested that at least in complex architectural settings, original syntax definitions of axial lines as uninterrupted visibility lines have more predictive power and has a better cognitive presence than ‘segmented’ lines. This study also supported previous findings of intelligibility as a factor in predicting space use by extending it to the cognitive realm. Additionally, it has brought out the reverse role of intelligibility-3. Finally, it was determined that mean depth of an entry effects the way a building is explored. Therefore knowledge of this spatial property may provide a fair indication of the relative importance each space will have on wayfinding.

ABILITY AND INTELLIGIBILITY: WAYFINDING AND ENVIRONMENTAL COGNITION IN THE DESIGNED ENVIRONMENT
Saif Haq and Sara Girotto

in Julienne Hanson Ed., Proceedings of Space Syntax 4^th International Symposium, Space Syntax Laboratory, The Bartlett School of Graduate Studies, University College London, London, June 2003.

Abstract

There seems to be a growing consensus in the literature that topological variables, both in the environment and in the sketch maps, are reliable indicators of wayfinding performance. Additionally, there are other suggestions regarding the use of topological variables to characterize and measure overall environments. In this regard, it has been reported that topologically derived configurational measures may provide a better sense of the ease or difficulty that each environment may present to an immersed and moving subject within it. A clarification of such claims is an important focus of this paper.

Regarding the externalization of cognitive understanding, the technique of sketch mapping has a long tradition. However, there are many ways by which these maps have been analyzed. The inclusion of Space Syntax methods provides a new dimension. A comparison of Space Syntax with some other tools of sketch map analysis is a secondary focus here.

These and other similar issues are explored through an experiment conducted in two complex hospital buildings in the US , where ninety-six volunteers, completely unfamiliar with the two environ ments, participated. They explored the setting, completed wayfinding tasks, pointed to unseen destinations, estimated distances between them and drew sketch maps from memory. The environ ment was analyzed through existing Space Syntax methods and some additional theoretically derived techniques. Two datasets were eventually produced: one by person and the other by corridor. The first one included sketch map variables, wayfinding performance indicators and cognitive tasks. The dataset by corridor included two kinds of data: independent values of the corridors themselves that was derived from Space Syntax analysis and wayfinding use of those corridors.

An important conclusion from the analysis is that intelligibility of settings is an important measure that is predictive of wayfinding and environ mental cognition within environ ments. However, geometric and metric relations cannot be ignored and there may be certain instances when those factors may become overwhelming.

Just down the road a piece: the development of topological knowledge of building layouts,
Saif Haq and Craig Zimring

in Environment and Behavior, Vol 35, No.1, Jan 2003, pp. 132-160, 
Previously published in Peponis, J, Wineman, J. and Bafna S., Ed. Proceedings Space Syntax: 3^rd International Symposium, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, 2001, pp. 48.1-48.17

Abstract

This study explores whether people’s topological knowledge changes as they get to know a setting. One hundred twenty-eight volunteers performed “open” and “directed” searches in three large hospitals. In open searches the participants attempted to become familiar with the hospital; in directed searches they sought specific locations. The participants also performed various cognitive tasks such as pointing and sketching mapping.

During initial exploration, they relied more on local topological qualities, such as how many additional nodal decision points could be seen from a given node. As they got to know the setting better, their wayfinding behavior was better predicted by more global qualities such as the Space Syntax integration of a node. This suggests that people rapidly move from a local to a more global topological understanding as they learn a setting. In addition, Space Syntax measures were good predictors of the participant’s ability to point to out-of-sight locations and of their sketch maps.

For a complete article please email me at saif.haq@ttu.edu

Expectation of Exploration: Evaluating the Effect of Environmental Variables on Wayfinding
Saif-ul Haq

published in in Mann, T., Ed. The Power of Imagination, Orlando , Florida . 1999, pp. 84-94

Keywords: Wayfinding, Hospital design, Space Syntax, Environmental Cognition

Abstract

This paper reports the results of an experiment which dealt specifically with the role that environmental variables play on human wayfinding behavior. Here, 31 subjects were asked to freely explore a large urban hospital from three entry points and then were asked to walk to specific destinations within it. Their movements were transcribed into ‘search patterns’ which were essentially the use of each space by all the subjects in the process of performing their tasks. Environmental variables were categorized into local, relational and global kinds. Local values were derived from the spaces themselves, relational values from visual relationship to adjacent spaces and global values from relationship to the entire configurational system.

It was found that the possibility of gaining subsequent information from any space i.e. ‘expectation of exploration’ was an important factor in predicting its use. This was calculated with a model which considers how ‘connected’ a space is with adjacent areas. Also, it was demonstrated that as people get to know the environment more, they tend to attain a better understanding of its overall configuration.

Furthermore, correlational analysis of ‘search patterns’ with Space Syntax variables was found to be quite high and statistically significant. These results supported conclusions reached from two previous studies in another hospital where Syntax values were found to be significantly correlated with ‘search patterns’ of wayfinding people.

Can Space Syntax Predict Environmental Cognition?
Saif-ul- Haq

published in Space Syntax 2^nd International Conference, Universidade de Brasilia , Brazil , Mar 1999.

Keywords: Environmental Cognition, Space Syntax, Wayfinding, Hospital design

Abstract

Environmental cognition involves the interaction of human behavior—both internal cognitive processes such as perception, memory and reasoning and more molar behaviors such as wayfinding and route choice—with the “real world” that has specific form and content. However environmental cognition researchers have focused much more on behavior than on environmental form. On the other hand, Space Syntax theorists sometimes make psychological claims. For example, Hillier argues that intelligible layout contribute to the intuitive understanding of configuration (Hillier, 1996: pp. 40) . Although Syntax researchers suggest that the diachronic nature of architectural experience may be picked up by the peripatetic observer (Hillier, 1996: chapter 6) and the property of integration is a useful measure for studying this, they do not probe the more complex processes of the human mind. Nevertheless, Space Syntax would seem to be a useful theory and methodology for understanding the role of environmental form in environmental cognition.

This paper reports the results of a wayfinding experiment that was undertaken to understand the relation between cognition and the environment. Wayfinding is thought to be important because it is one of the few human activities where there is conscious and deliberate use of the environment to produce quantifiable behavior.

Correlational analysis of movement with environmental variables revealed that relational values have stronger correlation and among them, syntax connectivity is the most significant (p=0.768 in open exploration and p=0.724 in directed search). Second, it was found that the property of  mean depth of the space from where wayfinding is initiated is extremely important in understanding the way a building is explored; it is a strong indicator of the co-relation of space use and syntax variables. By knowing one property of the entry space, mean depth, we can have a fair indication of the relative importance that the other spaces in the system will have on spatial exploration. Third, it was also demonstrated that as people get to know their environment more, they tend to attain a better understanding of its overall configuration: correlations were higher between global syntax variables and later movement. This leads to the hypothesis that when relational and Euclidean understanding of space develops, it may not be ‘map-like’ but may consist of topological relationships that consider larger and larger systems. It also endorses the theory that configuration may have a cognitive component.

The paper also compares the results with two similar studies by Georgia Tech researchers and assess the effectiveness of Space Syntax variables in predicting wayfinding behavior

BANGLADESHI URBAN IMAGE: Conception of Making
Saif-ul- Haq

Published in EARTH, Winter 1995, Vol 2, Issue 1

 DESCRIPTION

Housing has always been the image of a society. It is the index of its culture, its habits and its way of living. There has always been a tendency by societies to relate their homes with their ways of life and their particular world vision i.e their culture.

In Bangladesh , it is a peculiar phenomenon to note the urban houseforms and its relation to culture. While the houses relate to the morphology imposed by the British, they do not satisfy the cultural values. Yet these forms, the ‘flats’, are cropping up in exuberant numbers and are now the major form of urban housing. This paper is an attempt to initialize the search and bring out the underlying reasons for this particularly strange phenomenon.

ARCHITECTURE WITHIN THE FOLK TRADITION: A REPRESENTATION FROM BANGLADESH
Saif-ul- Haq

published in Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review, Vol V, No. 11, Spring 1994

ABSTRACT

The roots of traditional Bangladeshi architecture are dug deep into the psyche of the common people. In a land where poetry and philosophy are inherent in every person, comprehension of this architecture cannot be complete with only a partial analysis or a formal viewpoint. The social dimension of the architecture and the user's perspective are very important in this regard. In the case of the traditional Bangladeshi built environment, the user is also the designer, builder, landscape specialist, artist and craftsman. However, he or she is not the concept-giver. To grasp the reasons for design decisions, a participatory methodology opens up new avenues of exploration. This article presents such a view. Its analysis of the Bangladeshi vernacular archetype from a lay perspective adapts the work of Bangladeshi architect Rabiul Hussain.

INTRODUCTION

The comprehension and explication of any architecture possibly involve the simultaneous understanding of two things: the nature of the architectural artifacts themselves and the many forces that lie behind their production.

For Bangladeshi architecture both kinds of studies exist. The first, concerned with morphology, considers the rural dwelling in isolation and focuses on how its elements determine factors of identity. This discussion has led to a wide-spread belief in the bent roof as one of the most important identifying characteristics of Bangladeshi architecture. The approach towards the second factor is anthropological. With tools developed from Amos Rappoport, the spaces and activities of the house are studied, and differences appear among spaces in functional, social and religious terms. Such studies have led to the introverted courtyard being considered the essential characteristic of Bangladeshi architecture. Although the inferences derived from these two approaches are praiseworthy, they leave many issues unresolved.

HUMANISM AND CULTURE: A DISCOURSE OF ARCHITECTURAL CONTINUITY IN BANGLADESH
Saif-ul- Haq

Published in Protibesh, Department of Architecture, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, 1994.

ABSTRACT

Culture can be thought of as a 'thread' that continues through generations and to which events and developments are tied to. This 'thread' can take many forms and can be, among others, religion, science, cosmology, myths, folklore, etc.

This paper seeks to examine the form which the Bangladeshi 'thread' of culture takes. In this regard it argues that Humanism is the main theme along which it propagates. Therefore, to understand and participate effectively in this culture, the creative person need to consider human experience as his base of studies.