The effects of correlated color temperature on wayfinding : a study in a virtual airport environment

The aim of the study is to understand the effects of correlated color temperature on wayfinding performance in airports and to compare different color temperatures in order to understand their effects on wayfinding performance. The experiment was conducted with three different sample groups in three different lighting settings that are 3000 K, 6500 K and 12000 K. The participants were total ninety graduate students from twenty-one different departments of twenty-six different universities. The study was conducted in a single phase. The volunteered participants experienced the desktop VE one by one. The participants were seated at the computer and were tested by the researcher. They were asked to direct the researcher from the starting point to the final destination which was stated as gate numbered 109. It was found that correlated color temperature has no significant effect on wayfinding performance in terms of the time spent, the total number of error, the total number of decision points and the route choice during finding the route. However, the correlated color temperature has a significant effect on experiencing hesitations. It was found that the total number of hesitations decrease while the correlated color temperature increases from 3000 K to 12000 K.