Satellite Navigation 'Switches Off' Parts of Brain Used For Navigation, Study Finds (scientificamerican.com)

A new study published today in the journal Nature Communications reveals some of the drawbacks of using satellite navigation (SatNav) technology. After scanning the brains of 24 volunteers as they explored a simulation through the streets of London's Soho district, researchers from the University of London found that listening to a satellite navigation's instructions "switches off" activity in parts of the brain used for navigation. Scientific American reports: The researchers found that a brain structure called the hippocampus, which is involved in both memory and spatial navigation, appears to encode two different maps of the environment: One tracks the distance to the final destination as the crow flies and is encoded by the frontal region of the hippocampus, the other tracks the "true path" to the goal and is encoded by its rear region. During the navigation tasks, the hippocampus acts like a flexible guidance system, flipping between these two maps according to changing demands. Activity in the hippocampal rear region acts like a homing signal, increasing as the goal gets closer. Analysis of the brain-scanning data revealed activity in the rear right of the hippocampus increased whenever the participants entered a new street while navigating. It also varied with the number of new path options available. The more alternatives there were, the greater the brain activity. The researchers also found that activity in the front of the hippocampus was associated with a property called centrality, defined by the proximity of each new street to the center of the network. Further, they observed activity in the participants' prefrontal cortices when they were forced to make a detour and had to replan their route -- and this, too, increased in relation to the number of options available. Intriguingly, when participants followed SatNav instructions, however, brain activity in these regions "switched off." Together, the new findings suggest the rear portion of the hippocampus reactivates spatial memories of possible navigation paths, with more available paths evoking more activity, and that the prefrontal cortex may contribute to path-planning by searching though different route options and selecting the best one.

Comments

Maps technology is lost...

[Zemran]

Two of my friends run a courier company and I have found that most of their drivers actually cannot understand how to use a map. When talking to them I tend to use map related references but today, they just listen to their satnavs and cannot understand how maps work. They have trouble knowing where they are in real terms although they can tell you generally by using the satnav.

Re: Maps technology is lost...

[dwywit]

Yeah, but - use it or lose it. I'm scared about *anything* that reduces our cognitive ability/ies.

And it's not so much that we don't have a clue where the hell we're going, it's more that we don't give a damn to find out, when the technology will take care of it.

Fair enough, I suppose, except when the technology proves unreliable cough*apple maps* cough.

I've noticed that, but something else interesting

[Whatsisname]

I have noticed this behavior myself, and I used the same phrase, that my brain essentially shuts off when the computerized directions are being given.

What's weird though, is that the same thing doesn't seem to happen if I have an actual person giving me directions. If I listen to the computer, I can't remember shit. If a passenger looks at the map and does essentially the same function, I can remember everything fine and well. I wonder what the difference is between the two that results in such a different neurological outcome.

children can't use pencils

[Anonymous Coward]

Children who start using touchscreen displays at a young age, and who are engaged with those screens almost exclusively to more traditional toys, are starting school unable to hold pencils and perform important dexterity tasks. I imagine some people think, "That is good, we don't need handwriting anyway!" If all these kids know how to do is point, they will lack the skills to use basic hand tools, use scissors, type on a keyboard. Get ready for the disaster.

Re:children can't use pencils

[BronsCon]

Of course he can't, he's making a logically reasoned prediction. There can't possibly be sources, as the kids he's talking about are just now old enough to be in kindergarten; they haven't grown up to not know how to do any more than point.

I, for one, agree with him to a degree. It's entirely possible that is the path we are heading down. Unlike you, I also understand that there's no point in arguing about whether or not that's where we're headed, since it's too late to do anything about it if we are, and time will tell one way or the other. You won't be any more right or wrong in a decade when we find out, regardless of whether or not an anonymous internet commenter can provide sources today.

Re:children can't use pencils

[Anonymous Coward]

they've already stopped teaching "cursive" writing in schools. all kids can do these days is print.. and horribly at that. a seventh graders today PRINT handwriting is worse than a third grader's (print or cursive) from a generation ago.

Re:children can't use pencils

[Anonymous Coward]

What you're good at depends on what you practice msot - no surprise there.

Todays kids are worse at handwriting - but on the other hand, they can make use of a word processor. Which is a useful skill today. New stuff comes in, some of the old stuff have to go. 100 years ago, most children could herd sheep/cows/goats - almost a lost skill today but it is lower in demand too.

Re:I've noticed that, but something else interesti

[mark-t]

My favorite GPS screwup was one where we were driving south on an overpass, and the gps system told us to turn left to get onto the E/W route that the overpass was taking us on top of. Of course, since we were in the middle of a bridge, this was impossible. What we actually had to do was travel to the other side of the overpass, and then navigate back onto east-running lower route. There were no left turns involved. The driver was thoroughly pissed off with the system, ranting almost for the entire rest of the trip at the rest of us about how he was going to file a complaint with the company that supplied him with it, but I just found the whole thing hilarious. In retrospect now, though, I have just considered that the fact that I was laughing about it at the time may have just been making him angrier, which led to the 15 minute or so tirade.

While I still can read and work maps...

[TigerPlish]

...reading maps while driving / biking is asinine. Before satnav I used to plot a route to a new destination using a map,. and distill that to a single 3x5" (approx) piece of paper (a crib) I'd tape to the steering wheel hub or handle bars. Worked fine, but wouldn't adapt to real-time changes.

If you ask me, GPS satnav is the best thing to come out of the Cold War. It's still fallible... but it sure beats spending 15 minutes at a stop-n'-rob parking lot with a map unfolded over the car's hood plotting your next move.. can of Coke in one hand and lit marlboro in the other.. yeah.. I just god a good memory of a trip across the SE USA in a 1984 Rx-7, reading paper maps in parking lots =o)

But... I agree.. map-reading is a skill that must be preserved and taught. AB-so-lute-ly. I am a firm believer in first learning the tried-and-true paper-and-pencil methods. Even in meteorology school in the early 90's I understood it -- learn to do it the old way, and when the new way fails, you'll still be able to perform. And ... y'know? Many times doing it the pencil and paper way showed me things that computers just glossed over.. things that made a huge difference.

This explains a lot.

[Desprez]

In hindsight, I've noticed this myself, but never really gave it much thought.

It also explains an annoyance I've found in games.

Over the years, game have increasingly added more and more navigation features to lead you to your goal. And it seems the more "hand-holdy" they become, the less I can remember where I'm at, where I'm going, how to get there, or what the overall area layout is like. And if I'm not alone here, player's then rely more on the waypoins, etc. And this in turn, seems to cause developers to become ever more helpful with navigation aids. And so on.

I've always attributed this to some kind of fundamental difference between real and virtual worlds. As I'm always thinking about how I'm never this lost in real life, how can I be so turned around in the game? So this make perfect sense.

Additionally, I wonder if this explains the difference between rotating and static minimaps. The rotating maps give me a better indication of how to get to a specific spot, but lead me to have zero understanding of the area. Whereas static maps let me understand the area, and I've apparently learned how to use them to get to a specific spot. (Though this might also be influenced by my upbringing in a time before smartphone maps.)

So I find it interesting that the very things to help you navigate might make you worse at it.
Which is also why the minimap is so crucial to getting a feel for, and understanding the area. For me, it seems to counter-act the disorienting effect of over-reliance of navigation aids. So when developers decide that they don't want to have a minimap for reasons, yet still include all the hand-holding, I now understand why this is the worst-case for actually understanding the area.

It seems the solution would be then, if you're against minimaps and want to encourage more natural exploration, you should also remove most of the navigation aids as well. Anything more than perhaps a compass, and a maybe a goal direction on that compass, will actually make players more lost, and have less of an understanding of the world you've created.

Re:big map books of the local area are not that ea

[Hognoxious]

I drove across the US about 20 years ago using a HUD. Well I call it a HUD, I wrote the main waypoints on the windshield with a marker before each leg.