Verbal Protocol Analysis of Pilots' Cardinal Direction Judgments

This study investigated the types of strategies experienced navigators use to make cardinal direction judgments. While these judgments are important and necessary in navigation, people are generally poor at this task. Verbal protocol analysis revealed the strategies used by pilots in making cardinal direction judgments. These strategies were then compared to those previously identified using less experienced, non-pilot navigators (Gugerty & Brooks, 2001). Prior research on navigation tasks has pointed to mental rotation as the most common primary strategy. Our protocol analysis revealed a strategy not previously identified for other navigational tasks, heading referencing, suggesting that people often use a strategy involving little mental rotation for cardinal direction judgments. Individual participants used one of three patterns of primary strategies: mental rotation only, heading referencing only, or a combination of mental rotation and heading referencing. The novices relied equally on mental rotation and heading referencing while the pilots' primary strategy was heading referencing.