Five- to 11-year-olds (N=91) explored virtual environments with the goal of learning where everything was within the environment (1 trial; Experiment 1) or to find and collect six stars across two conditions, a standard condition and a condition in which participants could view their location on an overhead map (5 trials/condition; Experiment 2). Four exploration behaviours were derived, and for Experiment 2, two navigation behaviours were derived. Results of Experiment 1 demonstrated that with increasing age, participants visited more of the environment, had longer path lengths and paused less frequently. The effect of gender broadly mirrored this pattern, with males having longer path lengths, visiting more of the environment, making more revisits, and pausing less than females. Results of Experiment 2 demonstrated: within-participant learning of the environment; developmental changes; and gender differences across exploration and navigation variables. Older children and males had higher navigation success and stronger consistency in star order collection. Navigation success was stronger in the overhead map condition, and younger children showed evidence of different exploration behaviour in the overhead map condition compared to the standard condition. Group comparisons and effects of learning across trials demonstrated that optimal exploration was characterised by fewer pauses, making fewer revisits to a previously visited location, and shorter path lengths. Associations between exploration behaviours and navigation success demonstrated strong relationships between pauses, revisits, areas visited, and star order consistency, with navigation success. This study is a first step to understanding exploration behaviour in children and how this relates to navigational success.
Work preferences, life values, and personal views of top math/science graduate students and the profoundly gifted: Developmental changes and gender differences during emerging adulthood and parenthood.
