Results

3.2.1. Training Trials Associated with Gender and Landmarks

The main effect of landmark was not significant (F (1, 28) =.595, p > .05, η²=0.021, Figure 3-3 (a)). The participants needed equivalent number of learning trials to reach the criterion of 100% performance (Global: 3.43±0.37 trials; Local:

3.83±0.39 trials, Figure 3-3 (b)). The main effect of gender was also significant (F (1, 28) = 9.946, p < .01, η²=0.262). In general, the male participants needed fewer learning trials (2.77±0.39) than females (4.5±0.39) to fulfill the criterion success rate.

None of the interactions reached significance (all ps > .05). Males had better performance to search targets than females. Males needed fewer trials to reach 100%

success rate than females. Although time was restricted within 6-minutes in the training state, the training state was effective for males. Males achieved 100% success rate faster. The results indicated that males became familiar with the virtual environment earlier than females did.

(a) (b)

Figure 3-3: (a) Different landmarks needed different trials to reach 100% success rate.(b) Males and females needed different trials to reach 100% success rate

3.2.2. Travel Duration

The travel duration was the amount of time passed between the time when participants started out to find a given target as instructed and the time when they reached the target location. There was no significant main effect of landmark (F (1, 28)

= 3.133, p > .05, η²=0.101, Figure 3-4 (a) ), but there were significant main effects of trial (F (7, 196) = 20.342, p< .01, η²=0.421, Figure 3-4 (b) ) and gender (F (1, 28) = 19.128, p< .01, η²=0.406). In general, the participants spent less time to find the targets in the later trials (the last trial: 8.32±0.21 seconds) than in the earlier trials (the first trial: 11.10 ± 0.29 seconds), and the male participants needed fewer time than female participants. There were also a significant interaction between landmark and gender (F (1, 28) = 6.79, p< .05, η²=0.195), and between landmark types and trial (F (7,196) = 2.611, p< .05, η²=0.085). The curves of global and local landmarks were implied that the performance of subjects was got better and better in the later trials.

The phenomenon indicated that subjects became more familiar with the virtual environment so that subjects spent little time searching targets. Subjects had similar performance in the virtual environment with global or local landmarks in the whole

trials and then we analyzed travel duration of time about gender. All participants got better and better manifestation of searching time across the experiments. Males wasted little time searching targets in both landmarks environments. Males had better cognitive performance of searching time than females regardless of different landmarks in every trial. Males and females improved their performance in the later trials.

(a) (b)

Figure 3-4: (a) Subjects wasted time searching the target in the virtual reality environment with different landmarks in each trial. (b)Searching time of males and females in each trial. Males spent less time than females for each trial. Both males and females’ travel duration get shorter with the number of trials performed.

The analysis on the simple main effect revealed that male participants spent similar amount of times before finding the target position in both types of landmark’s environments ( Figure 3-5 (a)), while the females spent less amount of time to finish a trial in the local than in the global condition( Figure 3-5 (b)). Furthermore, the participants had unequal improvement in local and global landmark environments.

Neither the trial × gender nor the three-way interactions reached significance (trial × gender: F (7, 196) = .482, p >.05; three-way interaction: F (7,196) = .365, p >.05).

(a) (b)

Figure 3-5: (a) Male wasted time navigating in the mazes with different landmarks.

Males had the similar performance of global and local condition. Males improved his performance in the later trials. (b) Female wasted time navigating in the mazes with different landmarks. Females consumed the less time in the local condition in the whole.

3.2.3. Path Ratio Results

The main effect of landmark was significant (F (1, 28) = 56.946, p< .01, η²=0.670, (Figure 3-6)). The corrected travel distance was longer for the local condition (1.72±0.05) than for the global condition (1.46±0.03). The main effect of trial order was also significant (F (7,196) = 14.962, p < .01, η²=0.348). The three-way interaction was significant (F (7,196) = 2.953, p < .01, η²=0.095). The global condition had better performance than the local condition for all subjects in comparison of path ratio.

Figure 3-6: The different path ratio values were between global landmark environments and local landmark environments in each trial. In the whole, subjects covered shorter walking path in the global than in the local condition. There was the variation in the local condition in comparison of path ratio.

In the global condition (Figure 3-7(a)), the females had longer corrected travel distance than males in the first trial, while they had equivalent corrected path length in the rest of the trials. Females had a little better performance of corrected travel distance than males in the local landmark environment across the eight trials (Figure 3-7(b)). Both of males and females had shorter corrected travel distance in the global condition than in the local environment. Males had greater extent of improvement in local than in global landmark condition (F (7, 98) = 3.853, p < .01, η²=0.216, (Figure 3-7(c)) while the females had the same degree of improvement between the two types of landmark conditions in the eighth trial(F (7, 98) = 1.73, p > .05, η²=0.11, (Figure 3-7(d)), By examining the interaction between landmark-type and trial-order in males and females, respectively, we found that while females did not show differential progress of corrected travel distance in both types of landmarks, males did show

significant interaction between these two variables (report the two way interaction and post hoc analysis accordingly).

Figure 3-7: (a) Path ratio as a function of gender and number of trials in the global landmark condition; (b) Path ratio as a function of gender and number of trials in the local landmark condition (c) The global landmark state was compared with the local landmark state for male. (d) The global landmark state was compared with the local landmark state for female.