Spatial Cognition and Navigation

Mice navigate complex landscapes by learning a sparse vocabulary of paths

This study shows mice learn sparse path representations to navigate complex environments efficiently.

Topological structure in human spatial representation revealed through drawing

When redrawing simple line figures from memory, adults and 5- to 8-year-olds pulled angles toward 90° yet kept T-junctions more often than L-junctions; adults also compressed length ratios.

The development of navigation and attentional abilities shapes how children explore naturalistic environments

This study shows that children explore less comprehensively than adults in large environments due to navigational and attentional limitations that improve with age.

Looking Across Tasks: Domain-General and Task-Specific Gaze Behaviours in Spatial Cognition

This study examines whether gaze behaviors in spatial cognition are domain-general or task-specific across naturalistic tasks, finding that source fixation duration is a general predictor of performance.

Learned landmark associations support online visual control under degraded visibility

The paper shows that drivers use learned landmark-road segment associations to improve steering stability in low visibility, rather than relying on a global cognitive map.

Humans use optimal eye movements to facilitate mental rotation of objects

The paper shows that humans use specific eye movements to mentally rotate objects and make shape-based decisions.

Snap Back to Reality: Comparing Real-World Spatial Memory in the "Wild" vs. in the Lab

This study compares real-world spatial memory tasks using a smartphone app with traditional lab-based tasks and finds strong correlations between some measures but also unique patterns in app-based performance.

Emergent control of ant learning walks using the mismatch between path-integration and visual cues

This paper proposes a model explaining how desert ants control Learning Walks (LWs) through a mismatch between path integration and visual cues, showing it reproduces LW dynamics and transitions to foraging.

Rotating Letters in the Mind's Eye: Behavioral and electro-cortical associations with 3D Mental-Rotation Ability

This study examines the relationship between 3D mental rotation ability and 2D letter rotation performance, finding that 3D ability correlates with enhanced neural visual-spatial cortical activity during 2D tasks.

Illusory path configurations reveal age-related differences in egocentric pointing variability

This study finds that older adults show different egocentric pointing variability in virtual reality tasks involving illusory path configurations compared to young adults.

From Representation to Action: A Unified Laplacian Framework for Spatial Representation and Path Planning

This paper introduces a unified Laplacian framework that links spatial representations to navigation policies, showing that spectral decompositions of the Laplacian can enable efficient goal-reaching in complex environments.

Path Integration and Spatial Updating Recruit Distinct Cognitive-Neural Mechanisms in Humans

This study investigates the distinct cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying path integration and spatial updating in humans using behavioral and fMRI experiments.

Linking visual and spatial exploration dynamics during free navigation in a large-scale virtual city

The paper investigates the relationship between visual sampling and spatial navigation in a virtual city, finding a strong coupling between locomotion and gaze dynamics.

The role of cognitivo-motor interaction in landmark reliance and navigational deficits in older adults

This study shows that older adults have worse navigation skills due to changes in their gait and brain activity, and they rely more on visual landmarks, which is less effective than in younger adults.

Age-related differences in spatial memory occur alongside reduced visual fMRI BOLD but preserved viewpoint-specific scene representations

This study investigates age-related differences in spatial memory and finds that older adults show reduced fMRI BOLD but preserved viewpoint-specific scene representations, suggesting a general difficulty with scene processing rather than a selective deficit in allocentric processing.

The orbitofrontal cortex constructs allocentric schemas by integrating dynamic mobile agents with static environmental anchors

The paper shows the orbitofrontal cortex integrates dynamic agents and static anchors to form allocentric spatial schemas using fMRI and virtual reality.

Aging amplifies the influence of spatial contextual information on visual scene processing

This study shows that aging amplifies the interaction between prior spatial knowledge and navigational affordances, leading to slower reaction times in older adults during scene processing.

Living off the grid: Spatial representations show systematic non-Euclidean distortions regardless of their age and how measured

The paper investigates spatial memory distortions across different environments and time scales, finding systematic non-Euclidean patterns that support the cognitive graph hypothesis over the cognitive map hypothesis.

Navigators learn a local graph, not a global map

This study compares how humans represent navigable space using a global Euclidean map versus a local graph, finding that humans use local place-to-place information rather than a consistent global map.

Adult Zebrafish Engage in Path Integration-like Behavior When Exploring a Novel Environment

This study shows adult zebrafish use path integration-like behavior to navigate novel environments by integrating tactile and self-motion cues.

Spatial Navigation Training Enhances Large-Scale and Small-Scale Spatial Abilities through Different Neural Mechanisms

This study shows that 20 days of real-world campus navigation training improves both large- and small-scale spatial tasks through distinct neural mechanisms.

A map of the cortical functional network mediating naturalistic navigation

The paper maps a cortical network of 11 functionally distinct regions involved in naturalistic navigation using fMRI and banded ridge regression.

Embodied Navigation: whole-body movement drives path integration in large-scale free-walking virtual reality

This study investigates how body and visual cues contribute to path integration during large-scale free-walking virtual reality navigation, finding that body cues dominate over visual cues.

Human performance in the Traveling Salesman Problem is influenced by spatial scale

This study shows human performance in solving the Traveling Salesman Problem varies with spatial scale, peaking at intermediate scales where global strategies are used.

Spatial learning in multi-scale environments: Roles of hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and retrosplenial cortex

This study investigates how spatial learning influences cognitive map formation in multi-scale environments by analyzing brain activity patterns in the hippocampus, orbitofrontal cortex, and retrosplenial cortex.

Human Action Planning and Mental Rotation in a Tetris-Like-Game

This study investigates human strategies for assessing object fit in a Tetris-like game, finding three gaze-based strategies related to object configuration complexity.

The Omniroute maze: a novel rodent navigation apparatus that integrates dynamically configurable routes, sensory cues and automated reward delivery

The paper introduces the Omniroute maze, a high-throughput rodent navigation system that automates route configuration, sensory cues, and reward delivery for behavioral experiments.

Running the distance: embodied distance measurement is robust to social interference in fiddler crabs

This study shows that fiddler crabs use leg movement feedback for accurate distance measurement during navigation, which is robust to social interference.

Clover-like object vector representations support human spatial cognition

The paper demonstrates vector-based spatial coding in humans using a novel spatial updating task, revealing clover-shaped allocentric representations aligned with visual features.

Structured navigation emerges from self-guided spatial learning in freely moving common marmosets

This study shows that common marmosets develop structured, memory-guided navigation through self-guided experience in a foraging task, forming flexible yet predictable movement patterns.