Uncertainty promotes information-seeking actions, but what information?

Abstract

Navigating an unfamiliar city almost certainly brings out uncertainty about getting from place to place. This uncertainty, in turn, triggers information gathering. While navigational uncertainty is common, little is known about what type of information people seek when they are uncertain. The primary choices for information types with environments include landmarks (distal or local), landmark configurations (relation between two or more landmarks), and a distinct geometry, at least for some environments. Uncertainty could lead individuals to more likely seek one of these information types. Extant research informs both predictions about and empirical work exploring this question. This review covers relevant cognitive literature and then suggests empirical approaches to better understand information-seeking actions triggered by uncertainty. Notably, we propose that examining continuous navigation data can provide important insights into information seeking. Benefits of continuous data will be elaborated through one paradigm, spatial reorientation, which intentionally induces uncertainty through disorientation and cue conflict. While this and other methods have been used previously, data have primarily reflected only the final choice. Continuous behavior during a task can better reveal the cognition-action loop contributing to spatial learning and decision making.

Keywords: Information gathering; Spatial learning; Spatial reorientation; Uncertainty.

Fig. 1

Example community map. Imagine standing at the bank (yellow oval) and needing to find a grocery store. Landmark information differs in the visual character of different buildings or other spaces. Here landmark information could be the parking lot, a house, or the shopping center. Landmark configuration can be seen in the relative density or layout of landmarks. A useful landmark configuration here could be a housing development next to a parking lot which is across the street from a business center. A grocery store is less likely to be in a housing development than a shopping center, and a parking lot is indicative of a lot of traffic (which could be near a shopping center). Geometric information relates to the shape or layout of the entire environment and here can be examined globally as the grid-like layout of the streets on this map or locally with the rectangular layout of the business center. Although the figure gives only a snapshot of the community, its rectangular form reflects the overall environment geometry

Fig. 2

Spatial reorientation room layouts. a Depicts the layout of the training room with the star indicating the goal location. b Depicts the Geometry Only test condition where there is no landmark information available for participants to utilize. c Depicts the Landmark (formerly Feature) Only test condition, where geometric information has been removed. d Depicts the Cue Conflict test condition, where the landmark information is rotated by one corner so that the landmark and geometric information are no longer corresponding to the training room