Cortisol and Spatial Navigation in Immersive Virtual Reality vs. Desktop Interfaces

When navigating a newly learned environment, people may stick to the originally learned route or employ a novel shortcut. Past work shows that when people are stressed, they prefer learned routes over shortcuts. In this study, we measured participants’ salivary cortisol before and after a navigational task. Additionally, we assigned participants to two navigational modalities: desktop computer (n = 60) or immersive virtual reality (VR, n = 30). Both groups learned a route in a maze and the locations of 12 objects. They were then measured on navigational abilities via their use of shortcuts and the accuracy of their mental maps (via pointing). Afterwards, participants rated their general navigation anxiety. We hypothesize that high general spatial anxiety will correlate with a cortisol increase from pre-to post-navigation. We further hypothesize that for both VR and desktop conditions, participants with increased stress (salivary cortisol & self-report) will take less shortcuts.