Principles and practices for communicating route knowledge

A series of experiments was conducted to examine the effect of several prin ciple-based practices hypothesized as being important in communicating rout e knowledge. Results indicated that remembering and following route directi ons were facilitated by the practice of (a) presenting the directions in co rrect temporal-spatial order, consistent with the principle of natural orde r, (b) concentrating information in statements concerned with choice points , consistent with the principle of referential determinacy, and, to some ex tent, (c) using spatial designations with which most listeners are facile, consistent with the principle of mutual knowledge. In all studies, women ha d more difficulty than men in following the route from verbal directions. P ossible avenues for explaining this sex-related difference are suggested. C opyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.