The Contribution of Internal and External Factors to Human Spatial Navigation
A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Neuropsychology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2023) | Viewed by 14216
Special Issue Editors
2. San Raffaele Cassino Hospital, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Interests: spatial cognition; human navigation; individual differences; travel planning; topographic disorientation; emotions; creativity; neuropsychology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: individual differences; navigational memory; topographical memory; environmental memory; witnessing and reasoning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: spatial memory; sexual dimorphism; neurophysiology of spatial cognition
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
2. Martinos Canter for Biomedical Imaging, Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
Interests: mental imagery; spatial navigation; individual differences; human–computer interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Orienting in the environment is a highly complex skill, the operation of which depends on different cognitive processes: mental imagery, cognitive style, memory, attention, and problem-solving skills. However, the cognitive processes underlying navigation are not the only ones that guarantee success in orienting themselves. Indeed, several internal and external factors contribute to spatial orientation. Internal factors include personal attributes, gender, familiarity with the environment, and job-related expertise. External factors concern environmental attributes such as landmark differentiations, visual access to different parts of an environment from various points of view, and layout complexity of the environment per se.
A better understanding of how these factors affect our preferred strategies and skills to navigate through the environment is compelling.
It should also not be forgotten that the contribution of internal and external factors to spatial orientation is also important across the lifespan. In fact, studies on spatial orientation in some developmental age pathologies (ADHD, cerebral palsy, genetic syndromes) or neurodevelopmental pathologies (such as developmental topographical disorientation: DTD) suggest its relevance in the patients’ life. Moreover, a better understanding of the factors affecting spatial orientation would be useful, especially in the development of rehabilitation tools.
Furthermore, in healthy aging, spatial orientation, is one of the skills that decays earlier, although some factors (such as familiarity) have protective effects. In pathological aging, it has been considered a neuropsychological marker in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's. In brain-damaged patients, a deficit in navigation produces difficulty in re-entering daily life after discharge from the hospital.
We are seeking empirical or theoretical manuscripts, addressing the factors contributing to spatial orientation skills. Critical reviews are especially welcome.
Dr. Laura Piccardi
Dr. Raffaella Nori
Dr. Jose Manuel Cimadevilla
Dr. Maria Kozhevnikov
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- spatial navigation
- spatial cognition
- human navigation
- neuropsychology
- internal and external factors to spatial orientation
- healthy ageing
- life-span
- neurodegenerative disorders
- orienting
- spatial memory
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