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Abstract The widely utilized Global Positioning System (GPS) plays a crucial role in everyday navigation. The literature has predominantly focused on GPS use for reaching destinations rather than exploring its various strategic applications and relations with individual factors. The current paper is intended to develop a GPS Uses Scale assessing a variety of GPS uses for wayfinding and other GPS uses (Study 1). We also examine whether GPS uses are related to gender, age, self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring, dependence on GPS devices, and environment knowledge (Study 2). In Study 1, 365 participants completed the new GPS Uses Scale and the McGill GPS questionnaire, for assessing validity. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a structure as five-level factors, good reliability, and validity. In Study 2, 200 participants completed the GPS Uses Scale, self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring scale, GPS dependence scale, and a sketch map task after learning a virtual city from a video. Results from the linear model showed that those who use GPS for strategic purposes reported higher self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring as well as dependence on GPS. Moreover, those who use GPS for orientation purposes reported higher dependency on GPS and had higher scores on the map task (environment knowledge). Men were less likely to use GPS for orientation. The present paper outlines the importance of assessing the various uses of GPS, suggesting self-efficacy and dependence on GPS, and contributes to its strategic use.

The widely utilized Global Positioning System (GPS) plays a crucial role in everyday navigation. The literature has predominantly focused on GPS use for reaching destinations rather than exploring its various strategic applications and relations with individual factors. The current paper is intended to develop a GPS Uses Scale assessing a variety of GPS uses for wayfinding and other GPS uses (Study 1). We also examine whether GPS uses are related to gender, age, self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring, dependence on GPS devices, and environment knowledge (Study 2). In Study 1, 365 participants completed the new GPS Uses Scale and the McGill GPS questionnaire, for assessing validity. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed a structure as five-level factors, good reliability, and validity. In Study 2, 200 participants completed the GPS Uses Scale, self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring scale, GPS dependence scale, and a sketch map task after learning a virtual city from a video. Results from the linear model showed that those who use GPS for strategic purposes reported higher self-efficacy and pleasure in exploring as well as dependence on GPS. Moreover, those who use GPS for orientation purposes reported higher dependency on GPS and had higher scores on the map task (environment knowledge). Men were less likely to use GPS for orientation. The present paper outlines the importance of assessing the various uses of GPS, suggesting self-efficacy and dependence on GPS, and contributes to its strategic use., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflicts of interest: None., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Navigating environments is a fundamental ability of daily life, with survey knowledge playing a crucial role. Survey knowledge varies between individuals, and these variations may be related to individual differences in visuospatial working memory (VSWM) ability. However, other factors, such as the modalities of recall (cued vs. free recall) of survey knowledge, could interact with VSWM resources. The present study aimed to clarify whether various types of VSWM contribute to survey knowledge under specific recall modalities or regardless of how spatial information is retrieved. A sample of 74 young adults performed VSWM tasks with varying processing demands and degrees of active involvement. Then, they actively learned a virtual city path in a Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) environment, and their survey knowledge was assessed using a sketch map task in free and cued recall modalities (within-participants). Cued recall demonstrated an advantage in sketch map accuracy over free recall. VSWM with simultaneous processing and active mental imagery is associated with sketch map accuracy, but not other VSWM. Importantly, no interaction was found between VSWM and the modality of recall. Therefore, survey knowledge is primarily related to VSWM, regardless of recall modality, emphasizing the importance of VSWM ability in capturing survey knowledge after active navigation., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethical approval: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the The Ethical Committee for Psychological Research at University of Padova (Date 03/04/2023, No. A869A99C17F2C8381604FA0767E6DFFC). Consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Soft skills are key factors for success in multiple contexts of daily life, as well as for life satisfaction, but little is known about their role in late adulthood and older age. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationships of soft skills, as defined by the World Economic Forum, with two indicators of successful/healthy aging: life satisfaction and cognitive reserve. A sample of 435 adults aged 50 and over completed self-reported measures of soft skills, life satisfaction, and cognitive reserve. As control, fluid (reasoning) and crystalized (vocabulary) intelligence were assessed too, along with socio-demographic characteristics. A series of regression analyses showed that soft skills were positively related to both life satisfaction and, to a lower extent, cognitive reserve, above and beyond gender, age, and both fluid and crystallized intelligence. Interestingly, these associations were independent from participants' age. Overall, these results highlight the importance of considering soft skills also over the middle-late adult life course, due to the potential role of these individual qualities in supporting an individual's well-being and an active and engaged lifestyle, with implications for the promotion of a healthy aging., (© 2024. The Author(s).)