Sense-of-Direction: Brain, Learning & Experience
This podcast delves into sense-of-direction (SOD) and spatial knowledge acquisition, examining individual differences, the neural basis in brain regions like the hippocampus and parietal lobe, and the role of learning intentionality. It highlights how experience and cultural factors shape navigation skills, suggesting SOD abilities operate automatically and can be improved through training, while GPS use may lead to skill decline.
0.000000 5.900000 Welcome to everyday explained your daily 20 minute dive into the fascinating house and wise of the world around you
5.900000 11.900000 I'm your host Chris, and I'm excited to help you discover something new. Let's get started. Okay picture this
11.900000 16.380000 You're trying to get to that new place across town probably running late, you know how it is
16.380000 19.820000 Mm-hmm, and you've got two friends with you ones like
19.820000 22.940000 frantically turning their phone around
22.940000 27.420000 Convinced the maps wrong going on about north this south out. Yeah, I know that friend
27.420000 32.480000 Right, and the other one just leans back super chill points and goes. Oh, yeah
32.480000 36.340000 Just head down to blocks. You'll see that weird sculpture hangar right and bang. You're there
36.340000 42.140000 It's amazing, isn't it some people are just like human compasses exactly while the rest of us
42.140000 47.080000 Might struggle to navigate out of a well brightly lit room with signs
47.080000 52.680000 It's definitely a thing we all recognize you've got the natural navigators and then those folks who seem to get turned around
52.680000 60.240000 just thinking about directions. It's it's why this is so interesting to look into for sure and that's exactly what we're diving into today
60.240000 66.600000 Why are some people seemingly born with amazing direction skills and others?
66.600000 71.940000 Well, maybe not so much. Is it something you're stuck with or can you actually like train yourself to get better?
71.940000 78.860000 That's the core question isn't it nature versus nurture, but for finding your way. Yeah, so we've gathered some really fascinating
78.860000 83.100000 Research and our mission today is to kind of pull out the key insights for you
83.100000 90.460000 Give you the important bits about what shapes this sense of direction and maybe just maybe how you could get a little better at it yourself
90.460000 96.620000 Okay, consider this our shortcut to finally understanding why my cousin can find anything and I
96.620000 105.560000 Need a map to find the fridge. So this sense of direction S.O.D. They call it. That's a big clinical. Yeah, S.O.D
105.560000 113.140000 It's basically the hypothesized ability scientists talk about it means how well you can, you know, find your way through big complex places like cities
113.140000 122.540000 Or like a huge shopping mall maybe exactly cities campuses forest smalls anywhere large scale where you need to sort of orient yourself and figure out how to get from A to B
122.540000 128.400000 Not just follow a specific path. So how do they even measure that do they like actually drop people in mazes?
128.400000 135.520000 Huh, not usually though that would be quite a study often they start with self-report measures asking people how good they think they are
135.520000 145.240000 Really? People are honest about being bad at directions. Surprisingly yes a common tool is the Santa Barbara sense of direction scale the S.B.S.O.D
145.240000 154.480000 It asks pretty simple stuff. How often do you get lost? How easily do you learn distances and people's answers tend to line up pretty well with how they actually perform on
154.480000 160.720000 Navigation tasks. Huh, okay, so if I feel like I'm hopeless, I probably am good to know. Well, you're not alone
161.240000 169.660000 David Uddle. He's a cognitive scientist tells this story about getting a lost for two and a half days on a Boy Scout hike when he was 13 admits he still struggles. Wow
169.660000 179.320000 Two and a half days. Okay, maybe I'm not that bad. Right, but then you have Nora Nukem another expert who points out some people can literally point towards an unseen location and be just degrees off while others
179.320000 184.600000 Literally no idea where it is. She says the range is just huge that difference is exactly it
184.600000 191.200000 So is it just look at the draw born with it or not or actually, you know, improve. Okay, so the big nature versus nurture question
191.560000 198.880000 There was a really interesting twin study in 2020 led by Margarita Malinkini. They looked at over 2600 twins
198.880000 205.760000 Identical and nonidentical. Oh, the classic twin study approach. What did they find? They found that yes
205.760000 215.240000 Navigation ability does seem to run in families a bit. So there's a modest genetic influence your genes play some role. Okay, so maybe it is partially my parents fault
215.560000 221.720000 Well, hold on while genes are a factor. The study found the biggest influence wasn't genetics directly
221.720000 230.120000 It was what scientists call the non-shared environment non-shared environment meaning all the unique stuff that happens just to you
230.120000 236.160000 The places you live the games you played whether you biked around your neighborhood or always got driven your hobbies all those
236.160000 242.280000 Individual experiences they shape your skills way more than the genes you share with your family. Oh, okay
242.640000 249.400000 That's actually really encouraging. Yeah, the takeaway was pretty clear. Good navigators seem to be mostly made through their experiences
249.400000 256.640000 Not just born that way. That's a relief. So my destiny isn't sealed now. I got to ask about this thing I heard once
256.640000 264.440000 Do humans have like a secret ability to sense magnetic north? Right? Like birds. They say yes
264.440000 271.680000 The internal compass idea. It's a cool thought and there was this one experiment back in 1980 in Manchester
272.040000 278.040000 They took blindfolded students on a bus some wearing magnets on their heads. Others non-magnetic bars
278.040000 282.440000 Yeah, and the ones without the magnets were better at pointing back towards the university
282.440000 287.200000 Which suggested maybe the magnets mess with some kind of magnetic sense
287.200000 291.940000 I knew it. We're secretly awesome. Well, here's the catch
291.940000 299.040000 No one's been able to replicate those results since so while it's a really intriguing idea the whole human magnetic sense thing it
299.560000 306.240000 Remains doubtful as the researchers put it. Sorry. Probably no built-in compass. Oh, man. Okay, fine. No super power
306.240000 312.160000 But if we're mostly made into good navigators, how does that work? What kinds of experiences or environments make the difference?
312.160000 318.900000 Right, and this is where things get really interesting. There was this massive experiment called C hero quest a mobile game actually
318.900000 322.840000 Developed with T-Mobile a game for science. Yeah
322.840000 328.280000 Nearly four million people worldwide played it navigating a virtual boat
328.600000 335.520000 It generated this incredible data set linking navigation skill to demographics culture all sorts of things or million Wow
335.520000 337.920000 Okay, what did they learn from all that data?
337.920000 344.280000 Any cultural patterns definitely for instance people from Nordic countries tended to do slightly better
344.280000 345.680000 Maybe because of
345.680000 349.380000 Orient hearing being popular there, you know the sport with maps and compasses
349.380000 355.320000 It sends practice helps and interestingly country folk did better on average than people from cities
355.600000 362.480000 But here's a twist for city dwellers people from cities with really complex almost chaotic street layouts like Prague
362.480000 369.280000 They actually did better than people from grid plan cities like Chicago wait really living in a confusing city makes you better
369.280000 375.360000 It seems so the idea is if you live on a simple grade your brain doesn't have to work as hard left right straightforward
375.360000 384.080000 But navigating a winding irregular city forces you to build a much more complex mental map to really understand the spatial relationships
384.080000 388.800000 It's like a constant mental workout. Huh, okay, that actually makes a lot of sense more challenge better skills
388.800000 394.200000 Yeah, now what about the old stereotype that men are just naturally better at directions than women is that real?
394.200000 396.000000 Ah, yes, that cliche
396.000000 402.080000 Well, the research strongly suggests that any gap you see is down to culture and experience not some innate difference
402.080000 409.440000 It's about opportunity not biology seems that way look at the C hero quest data again in those Nordic countries with high gender
409.440000 416.240000 Equality almost no difference between men and women right but in places where women might have fewer opportunities to explore independently
416.240000 423.440000 Men did tend to outperform women and there's a fascinating study of the simony people in the Bolivian Amazon
423.440000 433.320000 What do they find there in that culture everyone men women kids is encouraged to explore the forest widely from a young age and guess what they're all equally good
433.320000 437.560000 Navigators it really points to experience and cultural freedom being key
437.560000 442.360000 That's really powerful evidence experience trumps the stereotype
442.360000 448.440000 Okay, what about things like anxiety? I know when I'm stressed about being lost. I just get worse. Oh, absolutely
448.440000 451.080000 anxiety is a huge factor
451.080000 453.960000 Research shows it definitely gets in the way of good navigation
453.960000 457.320000 If you're worried maybe about safety or just being late
457.320000 462.040000 It can mess with your cognitive ability to figure out where you are and where you need to go
462.040000 466.120000 It's like a vicious cycle. It really can be and personality plays a role too
466.600000 473.160000 David Uttles idea is that fundamentally to get good at navigating you have to be willing to explore make sense
473.160000 478.440000 If you don't venture out you don't learn exactly. He talks about a developmental cascade
478.440000 483.800000 It's not just one thing, but how your personality maybe being curious or open to new things
483.800000 486.200000 Combines with early experiences
486.200000 493.080000 This can nudge you towards activities that build navigation skills or away from them like hiking or biking or even video games
493.160000 498.040000 Yeah, people who enjoy those kinds of activities exploring either real or virtual worlds
498.040000 502.760000 tend to get more practice build better mental maps and generally end up with a better sense of direction
502.760000 504.600000 It all feeds into itself
504.600000 510.600000 Okay, this is building a much clearer picture. It's experience, environment, maybe personality
510.600000 513.080000 Not just some magic ability
513.080000 515.240000 So let's get into the nuts and bolts
515.240000 522.440000 What are the actual like mental tools we use? Right scientists usually talk about three main types of spatial knowledge
522.760000 528.040000 First up is landmark knowledge. Okay, like turn left at the big sound precisely
528.040000 531.240000 Recognizing specific noticeable features
531.240000 537.400000 Head towards the tall building. It's past the weird statue things that stand out got it memorable points
537.400000 540.360000 What's next? Then there's route knowledge
540.360000 546.440000 This is knowing the sequence of actions to get somewhere specific like go straight three blocks turn right at the lies
546.440000 548.120000 Then it's the second door on the left
548.120000 554.360000 So following a specific recipe basically kind of yeah and most people get pretty good at this once they've done a route a few times
554.360000 559.160000 You memorize the steps. Okay, landmarks to know where I am routes to follow a path
559.160000 562.600000 Well, what about those people who just seem to know the layout
562.600000 568.840000 Even if they haven't taken that exact route. Oh, that's the third and maybe most crucial type
568.840000 571.560000 Survey knowledge. This is the big one
571.560000 577.080000 It's the ability to build and consult a mental map of a place a mental map
577.320000 582.280000 Like a bird's-eye view in your head exactly. It goes beyond just landmarks or a single route
582.280000 587.240000 It's understanding how different places relate to each other in terms of distance and direction
587.240000 590.120000 Even if you've never walked directly between them
590.120000 592.920000 It's an integrated understanding of the whole area
592.920000 597.080000 This is where the really good navigator shine. How big a difference does it make?
597.080000 598.520000 It's huge
598.520000 604.200000 Dan Montello did this classic study driving people around almost everyone could remember landmarks and the routes
604.200000 607.880000 They were driven on but their ability to say point to a landmark
607.880000 614.440000 They couldn't see or figure out a shortcut that varied massively as Montello said if all you have is route knowledge
614.440000 617.080000 You're stuck if there's a roadblock you can't adapt easily
617.080000 622.360000 But survey knowledge that mental map it gives the ability to navigate creatively
622.360000 626.520000 You can improvise find new ways because you understand the overall structure
626.520000 630.840000 So it's like the difference between knowing one song on the piano versus understanding music theory
631.080000 635.720000 That's a great analogy. Yeah, it's about that deeper more flexible understanding
635.720000 639.960000 Nukem and Weisberg even categorized people in a study based on this
639.960000 644.840000 Some built good mental maps some just new routes and some struggled with both
644.840000 650.520000 The map builders were the most versatile. I guess the best navigators can switch between these strategies
650.520000 653.400000 Use landmarks sometimes the map other times
653.400000 655.640000 Definitely flexibility is key
656.280000 662.280000 Stephen Weisberg talks about how he uses cardinal directions north south east west in a grid city like Gainesville
662.280000 667.400000 But in twisty Philadelphia he relies more on landmarks and routes
667.400000 671.320000 It's about choosing the right tool for the job. Okay. This makes sense functionally
671.320000 676.440000 But what's actually firing in the brain when we do this? What's the neuroscience? Right? This is where it's really cool
676.440000 679.640000 There was an FMRI study in 2018 by Bert and colleagues
679.640000 684.520000 They put people on a scanner and had them do this relative heading task. What did that involve?
684.600000 690.040000 They'd imagined facing a certain direction in a familiar place then see a photo of a landmark from that place
690.040000 695.560000 And have to say which way the landmark was relative to their imagined facing direction
695.560000 702.600000 It let researchers see which brain areas lit up during directional judgments and what lit up the direction center
702.600000 704.520000 Well, it's more of a network
704.520000 710.040000 They found a significant link between how well people said they navigated their self-reported
710.280000 715.320000 So D and the volume of their hippocampus the hippocampus. That's the memory place
715.320000 720.040000 And it's crucial for spatial memory and creating those cognitive maps we were talking about
720.040000 726.200000 So better navigators tended to have a larger hippocampus suggesting it's really involved in building that survey knowledge
726.200000 729.880000 Wow, okay a physical difference linked to the skill. Yeah, anything else
729.880000 736.280000 They also found a link with the right presubiculum another brain area involved in coding directions like north and south
736.680000 742.520000 And other areas popped up too like parts of the cortex possibly involved in making the right choice or calculating goal direction
742.520000 747.080000 It really shows navigation relies on a distributed network not just one spot
747.080000 752.760000 That's fascinating a whole system working together. Does it mean you have to be like consciously trying to learn
752.760000 755.400000 Directions for this system to work well
755.400000 760.840000 Because sometimes I feel like I try so hard and fail that's a great question and another study
760.840000 765.880000 This one by Bertay and Montello from 2017 suggested something really interesting
765.880000 770.840000 They found that learning intentionality did not affect spatial knowledge acquisition
770.840000 776.360000 Meaning meaning whether people were actively trying to learn the layout or just casually looking around
776.360000 781.000000 How much they learned still depended on their underlying sense of direction score
781.000000 787.320000 The skills behind a good SOD seem to work somewhat automatically with or without intentional application
787.320000 793.640000 So my brain might be building a map even if I'm not consciously telling it to it just depends on how good my underlying system is
793.880000 797.800000 It kind of looks that way these seem to be more implicit abilities that just operate
797.800000 803.400000 It's like your brain is processing that spatial info in the background whether you're intensely focused on it or not
803.400000 805.720000 Okay, so where does that leave those of us who
805.720000 808.360000 feel
808.360000 812.120000 Navigationally challenged or we just stuck relying on our phones forever
812.120000 817.080000 Or can we actually improve this implicit maybe underdeveloped system?
817.080000 822.760000 That's the million dollar question and there is hope lab studies show you can improve people's navigation skills
822.840000 827.240000 At least in virtual environments they get better with practice. Okay virtual practice helps
827.240000 831.400000 But does that translate to the real world? Am I just getting better at the game?
831.400000 838.680000 That's the caveat it's not yet clear if they're becoming better navigators overall or just mastering that specific virtual space
838.680000 843.080000 We need more research on that transfer right and speaking of the real world GPS
843.080000 845.240000 My phone
845.240000 852.200000 Is it actually hurting my innate skills? I rely on it so much. Oh the GPS paradox the research here is pretty compelling studies show
852.200000 857.080000 Heavy GPS users perform worse when they have to navigate without it later. Oh dear. I feared that and
857.080000 863.400000 Crucially it seems the reliance causes the decline in skills. It's not just that people with poor skills use GPS more
863.400000 871.080000 So yeah constantly outsourcing that navigation test to your phone can effectively make your brains own navigation system
871.080000 876.760000 Yeah, well a bit lazy it stops practicing. Okay intervention time my phone is making my brain lazy
876.760000 881.800000 What can I actually do are there exercises besides like throwing my phone away? Uh-huh
882.040000 885.320000 Maybe not that drastic, but experts do have practical tips
885.320000 891.240000 The core idea is to start consciously paying attention to the things your brain might normally process implicitly
891.240000 897.080000 Notice compass directions notice prominent landmarks actively try to build that mental map
897.080000 901.480000 So force myself to do what good navigators might do more automatically pretty much
901.480000 906.840000 Stephen Weissberg suggests this exercise ask themselves which way is north 10 times a day
906.840000 911.880000 Use a map or compass app at first if you need to it forces you to orient yourself constantly
911.880000 916.520000 And builds that survey knowledge 10 times a day. Okay. That sounds doable like little mental push-ups
916.520000 918.280000 Exactly and just
918.280000 924.200000 Generally deliberately noting landmarks and turns as you move around should help maybe narrate your route to yourself
924.200000 926.680000 Take a slightly different route home and pay attention
926.680000 933.240000 For people with poorer s.o.d. They might need explicit instruction on what spatial features to even look for
933.240000 936.600000 So it requires conscious effort at least initially
936.600000 941.000000 To build up that weaker system. It seems so yeah, you essentially have a choice
941.080000 947.960000 You can put in that effort practice paying attention build your mental map. Yeah, or hey if you're happy using technology
947.960000 953.880000 And don't mind potentially letting those skills atrophy. Just make sure your GPS sandy. It's a practical world
953.880000 956.040000 Okay, so recapping this deep dive
956.040000 960.440000 Our sense of direction isn't just one thing. It's this complex
960.440000 967.400000 Mix early experiences. Yeah, where we grew up our personality maybe even our brain structure like the hippocampus eyes
967.400000 970.680000 And the really strong message from the research is that it seems to be much more
971.000000 975.800000 Made through life and practice than just born that way. Yeah, jeans play a role
975.800000 982.840000 But experience seems to be the heavyweight champion here. It definitely gives you a new appreciation for how amazing our brains are
982.840000 986.760000 Or how much potential mine might have if I stop relying on that blue dot
986.760000 992.360000 It really does it explains so much about this everyday skill whether you ace it or struggle with it
992.360000 995.960000 So here's something to think about next time you're heading somewhere new. What's your brain doing?
995.960000 1000.200000 Are you letting the GPS do all the work or are you maybe just maybe
1000.840000 1002.840000 Trying to build that mental map yourself
1002.840000 1008.680000 Notice the landmarks. Guess which way north is perhaps try turning the voice navigation off for just one trip
1008.680000 1013.800000 See what happens you might be surprised and that wraps up today's episode of everyday explained
1013.800000 1017.160000 We love making sense of the world around you five days a week
1017.160000 1022.280000 If you enjoyed today's deep dive consider subscribing so you don't miss out on our next discovery
1022.280000 1024.760000 I'm Chris and I'll catch you in the next one