Mable Zhou

Presentation Title

Adaptive training for navigation under stress: Impacts of stress exposure and spatial anxiety

Abstract

Increasing research indicates that stress impairs wayfinding efficiency. However, little research has explored training to build resilience to stressful navigation. This study examined whether stress exposure during learning fosters resilience to subsequent stressful navigation. Eighty participants were randomly assigned to learn an environment on the desktop,  either without stress (control) or under stress. Trans-Radial Electrical Bioimpedance Velocimetry (TREV) was used to measure participants’ physiological responses. Then, participants’ spatial learning was assessed. They then completed 24 wayfinding trials in an immersive virtual environment, with stress applied in half of the trials. After each trial, participants rated their perceived stress. While TREV did not detect physiological differences between groups, it revealed meaningful individual differences by linking baseline recordings to perceived stress and trait anxiety. Interestingly, stress training selectively benefited individuals with high spatial anxiety, who navigated more efficiently during stressful trials compared to control participants with similar anxiety levels. These findings support the effectiveness of TREV in capturing individual physiological responses and underscore the value of stress training for specific populations in navigating stressful environments.