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DOI: 10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29

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, and Armand Kapaj

Published in: LIPIcs, Volume 393, 17th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026)

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

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)

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@InProceedings{pierro_et_al:LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29,
  author =	{Pierro, Alessandro J. and Fabrikant, Sara I. and Kapaj, Armand},
  title =	{{Feeling the Heat? Heat Stress Impairs Landmark but Not Route Knowledge in a VR Navigation Task}},
  booktitle =	{17th International Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT 2026)},
  pages =	{29:1--29:9},
  series =	{Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs)},
  ISBN =	{978-3-95977-438-3},
  ISSN =	{1868-8969},
  year =	{2026},
  volume =	{393},
  editor =	{Timpf, Sabine and Filomena, Gabriele and Kapaj, Armand and Zhu, Rui and Giudice, Nicholas A. and Manley, Ed},
  publisher =	{Schloss Dagstuhl -- Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik},
  address =	{Dagstuhl, Germany},
  URL =		{https://drops.dagstuhl.de/entities/document/10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29},
  URN =		{urn:nbn:de:0030-drops-275736},
  doi =		{10.4230/LIPIcs.COSIT.2026.29},
  annote =	{Keywords: Heat stress, landmarks, spatial learning, VR navigation}
}

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

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