Neural evidence supports a novel framework for spatial navigation
Open accessAbstract
The spatial knowledge used for human navigation has traditionally been separated into three categories: landmark, route, and survey knowledge. While behavioral research has retained this framework, it has become increasingly clear from recent neuroimaging studies that such a classification system is not adequate for understanding the brain. This review proposes a new framework, with a taxonomy based on the cognitive processes and subprocesses involved in spatial navigation. The neural correlates of spatial memory can inform our understanding of the cognitive processes involved in human navigation, and conversely, the specific task demands of an experiment can inform the interpretation of neuroimaging results. This review examines the neural correlates of each cognitive process separately, to provide a closer inspection of each component of spatial navigation. While landmark, route, and survey knowledge are still important components of human navigation, the neural correlates are not neatly ascribed to these three categories. The present findings provide motivation for a more detailed examination of the cognitive processes engaged during wayfinding.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Realistic landmarks shown on mobile maps are a promising step toward further strengthening wayfinders' knowledge about the configuration of the traversed space during map-assisted navigation.
“these results taken together suggest that realistic landmarks shown on mobile maps are a promising step toward further strengthening wayfinders’ knowledge about the configuration of the traversed space during map-assisted navigation, which is a feature of more advanced cognitive map-like representations (Chrastil, 2013).”
From The influence of landmark visualization style on task performance, visual attention, and spatial learning in a real-world navigation task (2024) · cites this paper as Chrastil, 2013
Cites
Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers
Maguire, E. A., Gadian, D. G., Johnsrude, I. S., Good, C. D., Ashburner, J., Frackowiak, R. S. J., & Frith, C. D. (2000) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.070039597 · Cited by 3,225 · see citing works
Remembering the past to imagine the future: the prospective brain
Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2007) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2213 · Cited by 2,394 · cited 1× · see citing works
“hippocampus is involved in sequential learning, it may have been activated by the particular order of places that defined a route in Shelton and Gabrieli (2002), but not by free exploration in Aguirre et al.”
MethodAndersen, R. A., Snyder, L. H., Bradley, D. C., & Xing, J. (1997) · Annual Review of Neuroscience · doi:10.1146/annurev.neuro.20.1.303 · Cited by 1,486 · see citing works
Cellular networks underlying human spatial navigation
Ekstrom, A. D., Kahana, M. J., Caplan, J. B., Fields, T. A., Isham, E. A., Newman, E. L., & Fried, I. (2003) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature01964 · Cited by 1,425 · see citing works
What does the retrosplenial cortex do?
Vann, S. D., Aggleton, J. P., & Maguire, E. A. (2009) · Nature Reviews Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nrn2733 · Cited by 1,409 · see citing works
Critical role of the hippocampus in memory for sequences of events
Fortin, N. J., Agster, K. L., & Eichenbaum, H. B. (2002) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn834 · Cited by 881 · see citing works
ISHIKAWA, T., & MONTELLO, D. (2006) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2005.08.003 · Cited by 640 · see citing works
Active and passive contributions to spatial learning
Chrastil, E. R., & Warren, W. H. (2012) · Psychonomic Bulletin & Review · doi:10.3758/s13423-011-0182-x · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Self-citationDistances between real-world locations are represented in the human hippocampus
Morgan, L. K., MacEvoy, S. P., Aguirre, G. K., & Epstein, R. A. (2011) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4667-10.2011 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Neural foundations of emerging route knowledge in complex spatial environments
Wolbers, T., Weiller, C., & Büchel, C. (2004) · Cognitive Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.06.013 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Anterior hippocampus and goal-directed spatial decision making
Viard, A., Doeller, C. F., Hartley, T., Bird, C. M., & Burgess, N. (2011) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.4640-10.2011 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Variations in cognitive maps: Understanding individual differences in navigation.
Weisberg, S. M., Schinazi, V. R., Newcombe, N. S., Shipley, T. F., & Epstein, R. A. (2014) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/a0035261 · Cited by 270 · see citing works
Ekstrom, A. D., Arnold, A. E. G. F., & Iaria, G. (2014) · Frontiers in Human Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnhum.2014.00803 · Cited by 263 · see citing works
How do (some) people make a cognitive map? Routes, places, and working memory.
Weisberg, S. M., & Newcombe, N. S. (2016) · Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition · doi:10.1037/xlm0000200 · Cited by 219 · see citing works
Spatial navigation by congenitally blind individuals
Schinazi, V. R., Thrash, T., & Chebat, D. (2016) · WIREs Cognitive Science · doi:10.1002/wcs.1375 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Cogné, M., Taillade, M., N’Kaoua, B., Tarruella, A., Klinger, E., Larrue, F., Sauzéon, H., Joseph, P.-A., & Sorita, E. (2017) · Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.rehab.2015.12.004 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Chrastil, E. R., Sherrill, K. R., Hasselmo, M. E., & Stern, C. E. (2015) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.1209-15.2015 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Zhang, H., Zherdeva, K., & Ekstrom, A. D. (2014) · Memory & Cognition · doi:10.3758/s13421-014-0418-x · Cited by 80 · see citing works
Large-scale assessment of human navigation ability across the lifespan
van der Ham, I. J. M., Claessen, M. H. G., Evers, A. W. M., & van der Kuil, M. N. A. (2020) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-020-60302-0 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Concepts in the Brain: The View From Cross-linguistic Diversity
Kemmerer, D. (2019) · doi:10.1093/oso/9780190682620.001.0001 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Kapaj, A., Hilton, C., Lanini-Maggi, S., & Fabrikant, S. I. (2024) · Spatial Cognition & Computation · doi:10.1080/13875868.2024.2328099 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“…suggest that realistic landmarks shown on mobile maps are a promising step toward further strengthening wayfinders’ knowledge about the configuration of the traversed space during map-assisted navigation, which is a feature of more advanced cognitive map-like representations (Chrastil, 2013).”
BackgroundSelective neural coding of object, feature, and geometry spatial cues in humans
Ramanoël, S., Durteste, M., Bizeul, A., Ozier‐Lafontaine, A., Bécu, M., Sahel, J., Habas, C., & Arleo, A. (2022) · Human Brain Mapping · doi:10.1002/hbm.26002 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
Route sequence knowledge supports the formation of cognitive maps
Hilton, C., & Wiener, J. (2023) · Hippocampus · doi:10.1002/hipo.23574 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Chrastil, E. R.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chrastil, Elizabeth R.
- Venue
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review
- Published
- 2012-12-11
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 208-227
- ISSN
- 1069-9384 (ISSN-L)
- 1531-5320
- OpenAlex
- W1988274602
- Cited by
- 126
- References
- 11
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 4
- FWCI
- 0.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Psychonomic Bulletin & Review (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Keywords
- spatial navigation, spatial memory, landmark knowledge, route knowledge, survey knowledge, wayfinding, neural correlates, cognitive processes, neuroimaging interpretation
- MeSH terms
- Brain, Brain Mapping, Electroencephalography, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Memory, Space Perception, Spatial Behavior, Magnetoencephalography, Recognition, Psychology, Functional Neuroimaging
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
