300
geometric knowledge (overview knowledge). In the
presentresearchweinvestigatedhownavigatingwith
anECSaffectscognitivemaps,orienting,wayfinding,
andtheinterplayofthesethreeinasailor.
Our hypotheses build on the following
considerations:Westartwiththecognitivemap.The
abilitytoconstructthemisregardedinnate
toanimals
andhumans,butaspecificcognitivemapisacquired
byactiveexplorationofanenvironment.Humansalso
usesecondarymeanslikepictures,words,orsymbols
ondifferentmedia.Informationfrommultiplesources
needs to be weaved together (Nadel, 2013, p. 158).
How is cognitive map acquisition affected by
using
digital GNSS devices? In road traffic, pedestrians
using a GPS device acquired less accurate spatial
representations(Ishikawaetal.,2008).Forcardrivers,
digital GNSS navigation facilitated wayfinding but
hinderedthe acquisitionofacognitivemap(Burnett
&Lee, 2005;Münzeretal.,2012). Sincenot onlythe
tasks(navigating
atwo‐dimensionalplaneinsteadof
one‐dimensional roads) but also the devices for
maritimenavigationdiffer fromthosein roadtraffic
(e.g. no speech output), research results are not
directlytransferable.Insailing,wethushypothesized
that classic navigation supports the acquisition of a
cognitivemap:Inplottingroutes
withcoursetriangles
and dividers on large paper charts, fixing positions
via dead reckoning at open sea or cross bearing in
coastalwaters,andwayfindingbyconstantlylooking
out in order to match chart and environment while
underway, an accurate and detailed cognitive map
builds up. With the GNSS and the
high level of
automationinECSs,however,thisisnotthecase.
Secondly, spatial orienting in sailing is closely
related to the concept of situation awareness. The
concept originally stems from aviation and denotes
thecorrectperception of elements of a situation, the
comprehensionoftheirmeaning,andtheprojection
of
futurestates andevents(Endsley, 1995a)inorder to
safely guide actions in a complex and rapidly
changingenvironment,forexamplewhenthesailboat
getsintoacurrentinanarrowfairway.Inadditionto
spatialorienting,attentionplaysacrucialrolebecause
information processing is selective and depends on
actionplans.Sincesituationawarenessdoesnotonly
refer to spatial elements of a situation but also for
example to the wind, the depth of the water, or the
speed of the boat, we will use the term “route
awareness” in the remainder of the paper when we
refer to
the route‐related spatial elements of the
situation.Itissynonymoustospatialorientingwhen
sailingpre‐plannedroutes,becauseyouneedtoknow
fromanegocentricperspectivewhereyouarecoming
from, where you are heading, and where you next
have to change course. Obviously, digital GNSS‐
supportednavigationhas
twoopposinginfluenceson
situationawarenessingeneralandrouteawarenessin
particular: improved availability of situational data
butreduced attention toand cognitiveprocessingof
them. Whether this will result in improved or
diminished situational awareness is open to
investigation.The literatureisunequivocaland does
not include small
recreational vessels: Asyali (2012)
proposed that ECDIS navigation in commercial
shipping improves the situation awareness of the
navigator. However, the results were based on
subjective assessments of ship officers in
questionnaires, not on objective behavioural studies.
Grech& Horberry(2002)on theother handfounda
generally positive relationship between increasing
technologicallevelsandlossofsituationawarenessin
shipping. For the present study, we could thus not
deduceanyspecifichypothesis.
Thirdly,wayfindingisdirectlysupportedbyECSs.
Itshouldthusbenefitfromdigitalnavigationaslong
as the medium is available but should break down
whenthesailorhas
torelyonhisowncognitivemap
andorienting(routeawareness).
Finally,thethreespatialabilities(orientation/route
awareness, wayfinding, and cognitive map) develop
in close interplay with each other and with the
mediumusedfornavigation.ECSnavigationwithits
smalland variabledigitalchart anditshigh levelof
automation
might weaken this association and
thereby even lastingly alter perceptual processing at
sea.
We investigated the hypotheses with a field
experimentincoastalwatersattheBalticSeaandtwo
simulatorexperimentsinourlab(seeFigures1‐3for
anoverview).Inallthreestudies,weexperimentally
variedthe
navigationmedia(classic vs. digital),and
includedprevioushabitsofusingnavigationmediaas
additional predictors. In the field experiment, we
assessed as outcomes the situational awareness
underway (including route awareness) and the
cognitivemapaftersailing.Thewayfindingcouldnot
be examined because of safety reasons. In the
simulator experiments,
the navigation media (classic
vs. digital) were also varied but taken away at
different points: In the first experiment they were
usedforrouteplottingandforpilotingasegmentof
the route but then “lost”, in the second for course
plotting only. As outcomes, we assessed the
wayfinding with
and without the navigation media,
the route awareness underway, and the cognitive
map after sailing. In experiment 2, we analysed in
addition how the navigation media, the route
awareness, the wayfinding, and the cognitive map
related to each other, and how these relations were
influenced by previous navigation habits. The
simulator
with its highly standardized conditions
allowed the more sophisticated and more reliable
statistical analyses required for such an analysis. It
alsoallowedmorevalidconclusionsregardingcauses
andeffects.Thefieldexperiment,ontheotherhand,
was ecologically more valid. The two types of
experimentsthuscomplementedeachother.
2
FIELDEXPERIMENTONTHEBALTIC
2.1 Method
Twelve sailors from different parts of Germany and
Switzerlandparticipated.Withregardtoage(33‐68
years),sex(1woman,11men),andlevelofexperience
(500‐30,000 nautical miles sailed), the sample was
typical of the population of German‐speaking yacht
sailors on
the Baltic coast (Müller‐Plath, 2018). All
possessed a recreational marine vessel license and
thereby sound navigation skills. It was particularly
importantforourstudythattheparticipantsdiffered
intheirpersonal preferencesofnavigationmedia:In