PATH CHOICE AND VISUAL STIMULI: SIGNS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY AND ARCHITECTURE

This paper is concerned with the exploratory behaviour of first-time visitors to an environment and specifically with the importance of visual stimuli in path choice. Forty-five participants were asked to select among photos representing the path choices at 13 street intersections in the historic centre of Montpellier, providing reasons as they proceeded. Preference among choices at intersections varied significantly in 10 of 13 cases. Eight intersections with the greatest differences in preference between choices were modified such that persons, signs, planters and awnings were removed from the most preferred scenes and inserted into the least preferred. The virtual tour was run again with a new group of participants. In comparison with the first group, the second expressed greater preference for path choices with added elements and diminished preference for photos with removed elements. Choices were also related to verbalizations and rated architectural properties.