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Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance
Coutrot A, Schmidt S, Coutrot L, Pittman J, Hong L, Wiener JM, Hölscher C, Dalton RC et al.. PloS one, 2019-03-18
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
Virtual reality environments presented on tablets and smartphones have potential to aid the early diagnosis of conditions such as Alzheimer's dementia by quantifying impairments in navigation performance. However, it is unclear whether performance on mobile devices can predict navigation errors in the real world. We compared the performance of 49 participants (25 females, 18-35 years old) at wayfinding and path integration tasks designed in our mobile app 'Sea Hero Quest' with their performance at similar tasks in a real-world environment. We first performed this experiment in the streets of London (UK) and replicated it in Paris (France). In both cities, we found a significant correlation between virtual and real-world wayfinding performance and a male advantage in both environments, although smaller in the real world (Cohen's d in the game = 0.89, in the real world = 0.59). Results in London and Paris were highly similar, and controlling for familiarity with video games did not change the results. The strength of the correlation between real world and virtual environment increased with the difficulty of the virtual wayfinding task, indicating that Sea Hero Quest does not merely capture video gaming skills. The fact that the Sea Hero Quest wayfinding task has real-world ecological validity constitutes a step toward controllable, sensitive, safe, low-cost, and easy to administer digital cognitive assessment of navigation ability.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Coutrot, A., Schmidt, S., Coutrot, L., Pittman, J., Hong, L., Wiener, J. M., et al. (2019). Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance. PloS one. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213272
Vancouver
Coutrot A, Schmidt S, Coutrot L, Pittman J, Hong L, Wiener JM, et al. Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance. PloS one. 2019. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0213272. PMID: 30883560.
BibTeX
@article{coutrot2019-30883560,
author = {Coutrot, A. and Schmidt, S. and Coutrot, L. and Pittman, J. and Hong, L. and Wiener, J. M. and Hölscher, C. and Dalton, R. C. and others},
title = {{Virtual navigation tested on a mobile app is predictive of real-world wayfinding navigation performance}},
journal = {PloS one},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0213272},
pmid = {30883560},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213272}
}
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Key findings
- In both cities, we found a significant correlation between virtual and real-world wayfinding performance and a male advantage in both environments, although smaller in the real world (Cohen's d in the game = 0.89, in the real world = 0.59).
- Results in London and Paris were highly similar, and controlling for familiarity with video games did not change the results.
Why it matters
This study of 49 participants found that wayfinding performance on a mobile app correlated with real-world navigation performance, suggesting the app could aid early diagnosis of conditions such as Alzheimer's dementia. It concerns a navigation assessment tool and does not test any treatment, cure, or prevention for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Participants49
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 57/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (PloS one) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | PLoS ONE: journal h-index 594 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 2 / 5 | 2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 49 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 179 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 19.9 citations a year over 9 year(s) since 2019 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 9.9× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 62 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 3 / 4 | Last-listed author Hugo J. Spiers: h-index 51 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: institution h-index 2,511 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 3 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 12 institution(s) in 3 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 30883560) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 57 / 100 | — |
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