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Abstract

In this experiment we examined alignment and distance effects in human memory for a highly familiar environmental space. Twenty-seven participants who lived on average seven years in Tübingen saw a photorealistic virtual model of the city centre of Tübingen (Virtual Tübingen) through a head-mounted display. They were teleported to five different places in Virtual Tübingen and asked to point towards well-known target locations. This procedure was repeated 36 times for each of the target locations in 12 different body orientations. Participants pointed much more accurately when oriented northwards regardless of target. There were no significant correlations between straight line distance to the pointing target and pointing speed or accuracy. These results are consistent with the assumption that all locations were represented within one oriented coordinate system. Even though this is predicted by reference direction theory, it is unclear why, first, almost all participants have the same reference direction, and second, why this direction is north. We discuss our results with respect to well-known theories of spatial memory and speculate that the bias for a north orientation is because participants rely on the memory of a map of Tübingen for their response.