Strategy selection in a conflicting context during indoor wayfinding: Insights from direction and floor strategies

Various strategies employed in indoor wayfinding have been identified, together with specific internal and external requirements for their activation. Respective strategy use and its relationship with both configurational characteristics of architectural elements and individuals' knowledge or understanding of the wayfinding context have been investigated. However, little is known about how individuals ultimately select one strategy from among multiple strategies when they are simultaneously available but lead in opposing directions. This study investigated strategy selection in such conflicting situations, focusing on two fundamental strategies: direction strategy and floor strategy. A controlled virtual environment experiment with 120 participants was conducted. Participants had to choose a direction at a T-intersection where each corridor aligned with one or both strategies. Participants were separated into three groups according to the distances from the intersection to a staircase, i.e., a spatial cue for floor strategy. The results revealed that participants who employed floor strategy engaged in more looking-around behaviors than the direction strategy users. This implies that the floor strategy users might have perceived the wayfinding context as less certain and processed the gathered information in a relatively rational way. This theoretical interpretation provides new insights into the psychological processes involved in strategy selection during indoor wayfinding and highlights the potential links between strategy selection and individual information processing style.