Environment and Planning A 1999, volume 31, pages 1459-1472 The role of attention in spatial learning during simulated route navigation W S Albert Department of Geography, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; e-mail: walbcrt@pathfinder.cbr.com M T Reinitz Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; e-mail: markr@acs.bu.edu J M Beusmans Cambridge Basic Research, Nissan Research and Development Inc., Cambridge, MA 01242, USA; e-mail: beusmans@pathfinder.cbr.com S Gopal Department of Geography, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA; e-mail: suchi@crsa.bu.edu Received 23 December 1997; in revised form 29 June 1998 Abstract. Previous research has demonstrated the importance of attention in the development of survey (or configural) knowledge of the environment. However, it is unclear if attention is also necessary for the development of route knowledge. Our aim in this paper is to evaluate the specific role of attention in the acquisition of both route and survey knowledge during simulated navigation. In four experiments, subjects in a condition of full or divided attention were presented a series of routes through a simulated environment. Spatial learning was assessed by having subjects discriminate between old and novel route segments in a subsequent recognition test. Novel route segments consisted of old landmarks from the same route but in the wrong order or with wrong turns, or consisted of old landmarks from two separate routes, or contained old landmarks in new spatial relations to one another. Divided attention disrupted memory for sequences of landmarks (experiment 1), landmark-turn associations (experiment 2), landmark-route associations (experiment 3), and spatial relations between landmarks (experiment 4). Together, these results show that even relatively simple components of spatial learning during navigation require attention. Furthermore, divided attention disrupts the acquisition of spatial knowledge at both the route level and the survey level. Introduction Navigation through the environment typically involves a number of component tasks, which may include perceiving the immediate environment, moving towards a target, estimating distance to a target, recognizing a particular destination, determining the best route to travel between two places, knowing one's location and orientation at any point in time, estimating the distance and direction between two places, and under- standing where places are located with respect to one another. The degree to which these tasks are successfully performed depends on many factors, including familiarity with the environment or route (Gale et al, 1990a), complexity of the environment or route (Allen and Kirasic, 1985; Freundschuh, 1991), individual differences in spatial abilities and visual memory (Albert, 1997; Allen et al, 1997; Pearson and lalongo, 1986), and the amount of attention devoted to spatial learning during navigation (Lindberg and Garling, 1982; Sholl, 1996; Smyth and Kennedy, 1982). Of these factors, the role of attention is largely unknown, and is thus the focus of the present study. In contexts other than navigation, divided attention has been shown to interfere both with perception (Reinitz, 1990; Treisman and Schmidt, 1982) and with memory (Jacoby et al, 1989; Reinitz et al, 1994). Within a navigational context, therefore, the division of attention between several tasks (such as having a conversation or using a cellular phone and following a route while driving) may negatively affect perception and subsequent memory encoding, and result in an incomplete or informationally