K. Hanyu et Y. Itsukushima, COGNITIVE DISTANCE OF STAIRWAYS - DISTANCE, TRAVERSAL TIME, AND MENTAL WALKING TIME ESTIMATIONS, Environment and behavior, 27(4), 1995, pp. 579-591
This study examined the effect of stairways on different modes of dist
ance estimation. Forty-two undergraduate students at Nihon University
took part in the study. Two target sites, a stairway and a flat path,
were selected in a university building. The students were asked to com
plete three tasks: a distance estimation, a traversed time estimation,
and a mental walking time estimation. Afterward, the actual walking t
imes were obtained. The results show that (a) estimated distances and
times for the stairway tended to be overestimated while those for the
flat path were close to actual distances and times, (b) mental walking
times for the stairway approximated actual times whereas those for th
e flat path tended to be underestimated, and (c) individuals did not d
iffer in their tendency to estimate high or low across the path condit
ions.