{"id":1787422,"date":"2019-06-10T14:34:34","date_gmt":"2019-06-10T18:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1787422"},"modified":"2019-06-11T08:28:04","modified_gmt":"2019-06-11T12:28:04","slug":"wayfinding-a-new-book-about-the-neuroscience-of-navigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/06\/wayfinding-a-new-book-about-the-neuroscience-of-navigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Wayfinding: A New Book about the Neuroscience of Navigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>M. R. O’Connor’s book Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World<\/em><\/strong><\/a> came out in April from St. Martin’s Press<\/a>. Not coincidentally, she’s published a couple of pieces on the subject of that book, both of which focus on humans’ ability to pay attention to their surroundings, and the effect that relying on GPS directions might have on that ability. In a piece for Undark<\/em><\/a>, O’Connor argues that “our unshakeable trust in GPS,” which traces itself back through hundreds of years of believing in the infallibility of maps, gets us lost because we’re relying on the device rather than our senses. Her piece for the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> focuses on the role of the hippocampus in navigation and spatial awareness, and the need to exercise that part of the brain.<\/p>\n

This is not the first book on the subject: Greg Milner published Pinpoint<\/em><\/a> in 2016 (previously<\/a>).\u00a0See also: Satnavs and \u2018Switching Off\u2019 the Brain<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

M. R. O’Connor’s book Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World came out in April from St. Martin’s Press. Not coincidentally, she’s published a couple of pieces on the subject of… More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[254,752],"tags":[30,314,1291],"class_list":["post-1787422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-gps","category-navigation","tag-books","tag-cognitive-mapping","tag-neuroscience","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1808285,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2022\/07\/gps-negatively-impacts-spatial-memory\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":0},"title":"GPS Negatively Impacts Spatial Memory","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"27 July 2022","format":"link","excerpt":"Rebecca Solnit points to a 2020 study that attempts to measure the impact of using GPS navigation devices on our spatial memory. After assessing 50 drivers, researchers found that drivers with more GPS experience had worse spatial memory when navigating without GPS. But more significantly, it\u2019s a longitudinal study: 13\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1786418,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/10\/the-lost-art-of-finding-our-way\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":1},"title":"The Lost Art of Finding Our Way","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It's become a commonplace that modern technology has eroded our ability to navigate: that relying on GPS and smartphones is destroying our brains' abilities to form cognitive maps and that we'd be utterly lost without them. I'm not sure I subscribe to that point of view: plenty of people have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Reviews"","block_context":{"text":"Book Reviews","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/book-reviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Book Cover: The Lost Art of Finding Our Way","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/lost-art-finding-way-197x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1840665,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/05\/exploring-gps-alternatives\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":2},"title":"Exploring GPS Alternatives","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"16 May 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"In March the FCC issued a Notice of Inquiry to explore GPS alternatives, citing increasing threats to the resiliency of the existing GPS network. GPS World worries that the U.S. may limit domestic access to non-U.S. navigation systems (Beidou, Galileo, GLONASS), which many devices support, for security reasons. Breathless coverage\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1832469,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/06\/quantum-navigation\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":3},"title":"Quantum Navigation","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"28 June 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"Quantum navigation systems are being tested in Britain. Last month there was a successful test flight of an aviation system, and a system is being tested on test trains on the London Underground. (It\u2019s not clear to me whether these systems are related, but the U.K. has apparently been making\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1830673,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2024\/05\/russia-accused-of-jamming-civilian-flights-gps\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":4},"title":"Russia Accused of Jamming Civilian Flights\u2019 GPS","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"6 May 2024","format":"link","excerpt":"BBC News: \u201cRussia is causing disruption to satellite navigation systems affecting thousands of civilian flights, experts say. [...] The persistent disruption led Finland\u2019s flag carrier Finnair to suspend daily flights to Estonia\u2019s second largest city, Tartu, for a month, after two of its aircraft had to return to Helsinki due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3035,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/10\/william-rankin-author-of-after-the-map-interviewed\/","url_meta":{"origin":1787422,"position":5},"title":"William Rankin, Author of ‘After the Map,’ Interviewed","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"11 October 2016","format":"link","excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/RhbavHSruyA YaleNews interviews William Rankin, who's a history of science professor at Yale, about his book,\u00a0After the Map: Cartography, Navigation, and the Transformation of Territory in the Twentieth Century\u00a0(University of Chicago Press, July 2016), which, the article says, \"explores,\u00a0among other topics, the shift in maps from a 'gods-eye-view' to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "GPS"","block_context":{"text":"GPS","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/gps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"after-the-map","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/after-the-map-104x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1787422"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1787428,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1787422\/revisions\/1787428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1787422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1787422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1787422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}