Children's Response to Natural Map Misalignment During Wayfinding

Map-guided wayfinding requires updating the map-space relation whenever we turn. In 3 studies, children used a map to follow a path with two 90 turns. Although carrying the map, children rarely physically adjusted the map after turns. They performed well when the map was aligned with the space (on the 1st and 3rd legs), and they performed poorly on the 2nd leg when the map became naturally misaligned with the space. When map use was delayed (separating first viewing and first use), children still did not physically turn the map, but surprisingly, most performed well after both turns. We replicated this surprising finding with 2 age groups and examined individual differences. Children appear to use the map to anticipate the upcoming turn.