ABSTRACT
As part of a cross-cultural validation study, 222 women and 82 men from the southeastern United States completed Japanese and American sense of direction and navigation (wayfinding) strategy scales. Factor analyses supported the idea that individual differences in orientation and wayfinding strategies are stable across cultures. Correlations between the two instruments suggested that they possess similar latent factor structures. In addition, gender differences consistently found in the American scale were also evidenced in the Japanese scale. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for designing effective in-vehicle route and navigation systems (IRANS) consistent with individual differences in navigational strategy.
