Spatial Anxiety and Navigational Task Performance

The current study has explored the role of spatial anxiety in the performance of a navigational task. Spatial anxiety is understood in terms of the fear and uneasiness towards spatial processing. Spatially anxious individuals have been seen to restrict themselves in the event of engaging in activities that require spatial skills and processing (Lyons et al., 2018). The study sample comprised of 200 female subjects randomly chosen from the Government schools of Chandigarh (Age range: 15-18 years; Mean age= 16.3 years). The subjects were categorized into High, Moderate and Low spatial anxiety groups using the spatial anxiety questionnaire by Lyons et al. (2018). Further, the navigational task performance was measured using a simulated task. The correct responses were noted down. Repeated measures ANOVA was used. The results of the study showed that different levels of spatial anxiety play an interactive and significant role in navigational task performance across various navigational task conditions resulting in different performance levels.