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Memory retention of spatial knowledge in fire evacuation- and safety training

Menzemer, Leo Willem LU orcid ; Gwynne, Steve LU and Ronchi, Enrico LU orcid (2025)
Abstract
This study investigated the retention of spatial knowledge in buildings following route-learning training in a virtual reality environment. A total of 121 participants were tested up to three months later on putting waypoints of the route in the correct order and recalling directions at waypoints. Memory accuracy declined over time, consistentwith classic memory theory. Route knowledge was retained more robustly than sequential order, highlighting the importance of contextual retrieval cues. Landmark presence, decision-point complexity, and route features modulated recall, demonstrating that both task and environmental characteristics influence spatial memory. A hierarchical Bayesian regression model quantified forgetting with median... (More)
This study investigated the retention of spatial knowledge in buildings following route-learning training in a virtual reality environment. A total of 121 participants were tested up to three months later on putting waypoints of the route in the correct order and recalling directions at waypoints. Memory accuracy declined over time, consistentwith classic memory theory. Route knowledge was retained more robustly than sequential order, highlighting the importance of contextual retrieval cues. Landmark presence, decision-point complexity, and route features modulated recall, demonstrating that both task and environmental characteristics influence spatial memory. A hierarchical Bayesian regression model quantified forgetting with median memory accuracy, capturing uncertainty across individual variability of participants and the environment in the experiment. Predicted accuracy decreased from approximately 91% initially to 77% after 12 weeks, and to approximately 72–75% after 6–12 months indicating that a substantial portion of spatial knowledge is retained over long intervals. By applying memory theory to analyse retention data, this study addresses a gap in the safety training field by providing a theory-driven approach to quantifying training effectiveness, enabling evidence-based design and assessment of safety and evacuation training in practice.
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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Fire Safety, Human behaviour, Human Behaviour in Fire, Safety Training, Evacuation, Drill, Spatial Cognition, Knowledge Retention, Forgetting, Forgetting curves, brms, Bayesian Regression
pages
23 pages
publisher
PsyArXiv
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
826cb998-04f6-4ee3-bfd8-9a714814cd24
alternative location
https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/r254e_v1
date added to LUP
2026-02-03 23:10:49
date last changed
2026-02-17 12:02:27
@misc{826cb998-04f6-4ee3-bfd8-9a714814cd24,
  abstract     = {{This study investigated the retention of spatial knowledge in buildings following route-learning training in a virtual reality environment. A total of 121 participants were tested up to three months later on putting waypoints of the route in the correct order and recalling directions at waypoints. Memory accuracy declined over time, consistentwith classic memory theory. Route knowledge was retained more robustly than sequential order, highlighting the importance of contextual retrieval cues. Landmark presence, decision-point complexity, and route features modulated recall, demonstrating that both task and environmental characteristics influence spatial memory. A hierarchical Bayesian regression model quantified forgetting with median memory accuracy, capturing uncertainty across individual variability of participants and the environment in the experiment. Predicted accuracy decreased from approximately 91% initially to 77% after 12 weeks, and to approximately 72–75% after 6–12 months indicating that a substantial portion of spatial knowledge is retained over long intervals. By applying memory theory to analyse retention data, this study addresses a gap in the safety training field by providing a theory-driven approach to quantifying training effectiveness, enabling evidence-based design and assessment of safety and evacuation training in practice.<br/>}},
  author       = {{Menzemer, Leo Willem and Gwynne, Steve and Ronchi, Enrico}},
  keywords     = {{Fire Safety; Human behaviour; Human Behaviour in Fire; Safety Training; Evacuation; Drill; Spatial Cognition; Knowledge Retention; Forgetting; Forgetting curves; brms; Bayesian Regression}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  note         = {{Preprint}},
  publisher    = {{PsyArXiv}},
  title        = {{Memory retention of spatial knowledge in fire evacuation- and safety training}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/241285223/20251007_-_Menzemer_et_al._-_Memory_Retention_Preprint-Psyarxiv.pdf}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}