The Heart of a Daily Journey: How Emotional Are Landmarks?

Laboratory experiments show that emotional landmarks influence wayfinding and spatial learning. However, the affective properties of real‐life landmarks remain understudied. This study examines whether the landmarks that people use daily possess an affective component. Participants completed an online questionnaire and were instructed to identify five landmarks along a familiar route. They then had to rate their affective valence (positive/negative) and arousal (high/low). The study also considered individual characteristics and landmark features. The results obtained indicate that, irrespective of individual characteristics, participants predominantly reported positively valenced, highly arousing landmarks. Depending on their nature and associated emotions, different landmark profiles emerged, with a positive correlation between a landmark's valence and its subjective importance. Overall, these findings confirm the existence of an affective component in the landmarks used by individuals in their everyday life and corroborate the relevance of the recent line of research studying its impact on spatial learning.