A COMPARISON OF THE COGNITIVE DEMANDS OF NAVIGATING 2-VERSUS 3-DIMENSIONAL SPATIAL DATABASE LAYOUTS

This paper reports an experimental investigation of target search perf ormance in two-versus three-dimensional spatial database configuration s. Although distance to targets was reduced in a three-dimensional con dition there was no corresponding performance advantage in response ti mes or implicit learning, and navigational efficiency was reduced. Par ticipants also reported expending greater effort when using a three-di mensional layout. Spatial ability was not predictive of navigational p erformance, and there was no interaction between spatial ability and d atabase structure.