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Feeling the Heat? Heat Stress Impairs Landmark but Not Route Knowledge in a VR Navigation Task (Short Paper)

Authors Alessandro J. Pierro, Sara I. Fabrikant , Armand Kapaj

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LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29.pdf
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Subject Classification

ACM Subject Classification
  • Computing methodologies → Cognitive science
  • Computing methodologies → Virtual reality
  • General and reference → Empirical studies
Keywords
  • Heat stress
  • landmarks
  • spatial learning
  • VR navigation

Metrics

Abstract

With global temperatures rising due to climate change, heat stress is becoming an increasingly prevalent condition affecting everyday navigation. Acute heat stress is known to impair complex human cognitive functioning, including memory, attention, and executive functioning. Yet, the influence of heat stress on spatial learning during navigation remains unexplored. Therefore, we conducted a VR navigation study to assess the influence of heat stress on landmark and route knowledge acquisition. Forty-six healthy adults followed a predefined route through a VR urban environment featuring intersections with and without visually salient landmarks, under either heat stress (36-38°C) or a control condition (24.5°C). We found that heat stress significantly impaired overall landmark knowledge, especially at intersections without salient landmarks, where performance failed to exceed chance level. Route knowledge, however, remained unaffected by heat stress regardless of landmark presence. These findings provide novel empirical evidence that acute heat stress selectively impairs spatial learning, highlighting the need for further research into how rising temperatures may affect human spatial cognition during navigation.

Cite As Get BibTex

Alessandro J. Pierro, Sara I. Fabrikant, and Armand Kapaj. Feeling the Heat? Heat Stress Impairs Landmark but Not Route Knowledge in a VR Navigation Task (Short Paper). In 17th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026). Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Volume 393, pp. 29:1-29:9, Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik (2026) https://doi.org/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29

Author Details

Alessandro J. Pierro
  • Independent Scholar, Zurich, Switzerland
Sara I. Fabrikant
  • Department of Geography and Digital Society Initiative, University of Zurich, Switzerland
Armand Kapaj
  • Department of Geography and Digital Society Initiative, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Supplementary Materials

References

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