2026-07-22T13:05:58Z https://drops.dagstuhl.de/oai

oai:drops-oai.dagstuhl.de:7759 2024-03-06T10:41:12Z ddc:004 open_access

Sense of Direction: One or Two Dimensions? Davies, Clare Athersuch, Lucy Amos, Nikki sense of direction spatial ability cognitive mapping The Santa Barbara Sense of Direction scale (SBSOD) has been an invaluable research tool for over 15 years. Previous studies with non-US populations, despite supporting the scale's internal validity, suggested national differences in individual item responses and possibly the factor analytic structure, although translation differences were confounded with cultural and environmental factors. Using a pooled British sample (N=151) - avoiding linguistic translation, yet reflecting 'old world' environmental experience and strategies - this paper revisits the SBSOD's validity and structure. While largely supporting the scale's internal validity across cultures and spatial environments, findings from this population suggest at least a two-factor structure underlying the scores, with the first factor explaining less than half of its variance, supporting the oft-discussed division between survey- and route-oriented strategies. We conclude by proposing a more nuanced, efficiency-based theory of 'sense of direction'. Schloss Dagstuhl – Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik Clare Davies and Lucy Athersuch and Nikki Amos 2017 Is Part Of LIPIcs, Volume 86, 13th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2017) InProceedings Text doc-type:ResearchArticle publishedVersion application/pdf doi:10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2017.9 urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-77590 https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2017.9 eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode