Further evidence for benefits of verbal route guidance instructions over symbolic spatial guidance instructions

Abstract

A study that investigated how to present simple guidance instructions in a car is reported. The literature suggests an advantage for oral over visual information because the visual channel is already heavily loaded while driving. The author attempts to replicate this finding and to test explanations for this phenomenon in order to come to more sophisticated guidelines. The results confirm the advantage of verbal instructions and suggest that it is caused by recording of spatial guidance instructions into a verbal memory format which is not required for verbal instructions. It is concluded that navigation instructions should basically be oral, although arrows or map-like images may be used to support oral presentation.