Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation

[Paco Dennis]

• "Louisa Dahmani &
• Véronique D. Bohbot

Scientific Reports volume 10, Article number: 6310 (2020)

Abstract​

Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation devices and applications have become ubiquitous over the last decade. However, it is unclear whether using GPS affects our own internal navigation system, or spatial memory, which critically relies on the hippocampus. We assessed the lifetime GPS experience of 50 regular drivers as well as various facets of spatial memory, including spatial memory strategy use, cognitive mapping, and landmark encoding using virtual navigation tasks. We first present cross-sectional results that show that people with greater lifetime GPS experience have worse spatial memory during self-guided navigation, i.e. when they are required to navigate without GPS. In a follow-up session, 13 participants were retested three years after initial testing. Although the longitudinal sample was small, we observed an important effect of GPS use over time, whereby greater GPS use since initial testing was associated with a steeper decline in hippocampal-dependent spatial memory. Importantly, we found that those who used GPS more did not do so because they felt they had a poor sense of direction, suggesting that extensive GPS use led to a decline in spatial memory rather than the other way around. These findings are significant in the context of society’s increasing reliance on GPS."

30 minute read

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-62877-0

 

[WheatenLover]

I have a bad sense of direction. To top it off, I frequently mix up my left and right. This is a learning disorder. I have ways I deal with it. For instance, I remember the fork goes on the left for a place setting. When driving and keeping in mind the next few turns, I sqeeze my hand on the steering wheel. For example, for upcoming left right left turns, I squeeze my hands in that pattern. I can remember patterns.

I also cannot follow any directions given, usually by men, that use north/south/east/west instead of left and right. What do you do when the road starts out going north and then curves west?

One thing I can count on is that if I think I should turn left (remembering directions), it always turns out I should have turned right.

I used to tell my kids that they were not lost, because they were with me.

Google Maps works for me -- but I have to be extra careful that I turn right (not left) when it tells me to.

 

[WhatInThe]

Most people don't even realize or know what compass direction they're traveling or have no sense of time of day ie sun and shadows. This is where old fashioned maps came in because one literally got to see the big picture now it's just a slice with phone screens etc.

 

[Alligatorob]

extensive GPS use led to a decline in spatial memory

Didn't need a study to tell me that.

If I use paper maps to find a place I can usually remember how to get back without the maps. Not true if I use GPS. Noticed this years ago, with my first GPS.

 

[Geezerette]

i don’t have a GPS and use paper maps when needed, because they give the big picture. I don’t see how people can manage trying to find unfamiliar locations from a 2x3” picture on a phone.

 

[feywon]

Most people don't even realize or know what compass direction they're traveling or have no sense of time of day ie sun and shadows. This is where old fashioned maps came in because one literally got to see the big picture now it's just a slice with phone screens etc.

You're right about most people not having a clue about what direction is what, sometimes even when they've lived in a same place for decades. Having been a country kid, who's family also had a boat for a few years that we took out on Tampa Bay and Gulf of Mexico, i developed a habit of paying attention to clues like where sun/moon rise and set and how you have to factor in the time of year. But that's not too practical when trying to drive--just keeps you headed in relatively correct direction.

My daughter will, when we're someplace unfamiliar pull up Google Maps on her phone and navigate for me. Does a good job too. But i use my phone for calls and texts, and if expecting an important email via gmail (most of my 'business' type contacts--Insurance, phone service, etc have that one)i'll use it on phone.

 

[Kaila]

Very interesting topic and posts....Thanks for starting the thread, @Paco Dennis
and thanks to all of those who are posting on it, too.

 

[feywon]

i've had a couple of cars with compass feature. Current vehicle has it right on dashboard near the digital speedometer. i like that because winding mountain roads can get you disoriented. There's actually a stretch of road between here and the City that i kept sensing was 'way off', feeling disoriented on that stretch, during our first year here and finally thought to check the compass as making the initial curve into it. The road is basically a North/South route but winds a lot. But this stretch with major bends at each end actually runs in NE direction when you are headed to city south of here, and of course goes SW when you're heading North to my village. Once i knew for sure it actually does that i no longer got that uneasy feeling that something was 'off' while driving that stretch.

If we're headed somewhere unfamiliar to us i'll Google map it a day or two before and either print out the basic area map and write down directions. Now that we've lived here 9 1/2 years, if it's in Albuquerque i just need some of the close to final destination directions, because even once a month trips add up and i've got a good mental map of main roads, highways. So often just grab the map from Google Maps that includes from where i turn off a major artery to where the place is. But then i've always had good spatial skills and memory. i can pack a moving van so everything arrives secure and unbroken but virtually no wasted space.

Daughter, if going with me can pull it up on her phone if need me and 'navigate' in a pinch. But i have a good visual memory and if i've looked at a map, and especially if able to switch to 'street view' for the actual block the place is on it helps. Usually if i've been there once, it's enough.

 

[Don M.]

If we're going somewhere unfamiliar, I look it up ahead of time on Google Maps, and study the route/location, etc., ahead of time. Then, I pay close attention to the road signs, etc., and that suffices. We no longer take any long road trips, as 2 or 3 hours behind the wheel is enough for us. If we do go somewhere distant, we fly....flying is cheaper than gas, motels, meals, etc.

 

[StarSong]

I have a bad sense of direction. This is a learning disorder

Same here. Most people were were gifted with inner compasses, but mine is missing. No different from those who can naturally sing in tune being unable to understand why some others cannot (and vice versa).

Using GPS doesn't erode my internal navigation system because I have none! Never have had. Joke in my family was that I got lost backing out of the driveway.

 

[Kaila]

Joke in my family was that I got lost backing out of the driveway.

Thanks for sharing that. So funny!

 

[Kaila]

I got lost backing out of the driveway.

And then, would you use GPS, to find your way back home?
I need to know.

 

[IrisSenior]

If I know generally where I am going (i.e., north and east) then I can guess the area I will be in but if I turn a corner too much or go around the block, I lose my sense of direction. I have always been like this. I have WASE on my phone. Also, if I have been to a place a few times, I can usually find my way back. I only use the GPS if I am going somewhere I haven't been to before or it has been awhile.

 

[Alligatorob]

Having been a country kid, who's family also had a boat for a few years that we took out on Tampa Bay and Gulf of Mexico

Where did you live? I grew up mostly in Dunedin, we also had a boat and often went to the Gulf, and Tampa Bay occasionally. Mostly remember fishing, crabbing, and oystering in the Bay along the Courtney Campbell causeway and from the Safety Harbor pier.

In those days all boat navigation was chart, compass, and dead reckoning. Very different today, but we got on fine without GPS.

 

[feywon]

Where did you live? I grew up mostly in Dunedin, we also had a boat and often went to the Gulf, and Tampa Bay occasionally. Mostly remember fishing, crabbing, and oystering in the Bay along the Courtney Campbell causeway and from the Safety Harbor pier.

In those days all boat navigation was chart, compass, and dead reckoning. Very different today, but we got on fine without GPS.

Ruskin, first on an inlet then on the Little Manatee River; 1947-56. My first year was spent in Gibsonton--Parents lived at The Giant's Camp before i was born too, we moved to Ruskin after my half-sisters came down to live with us. In those days Ruskin was a very small town. Our place wasn't that far upstream from the bay, lots of mangrove islands. Parents both hunted, we girls fished and went crabbing too. The crabnet was twice my height when i was 5-6 yrs but i'd swim across to shallow side (the water was 14 ft at end of our dock at low tide) with it to check crab traps, and if there weren't enough to make a decent meal for all of us i'd scoop up some more to put in the trap and take it back across tying it to a support of the doc till Mom was ready to cook them. While i could bait a hook by 4 sitting on the dock waiting for a bite bored the ____ out of me, i preferred the more active crabbing. i couldn't even read while fishing because i'd get transported when reading and not feel the subtler tugs.

My Dad sailed Tampa Bay and the Gulf, possibly into Caribbean for some half century. He taught us to find North Star and various constellations. One of my favorite things was being far enough out in the Gulf at night that there was just sea and sky.

 

[Nathan]

Habitual use of GPS negatively impacts spatial memory during self-guided navigation

I wouldn't doubt it, I'm pretty sure that relying on "spell checker" has allowed my ability to recall and spell to atrophy. Google search is so reliable, instant and thorough that I really don't have to bother remembering anything anymore, I know I can always re-Google it.
That said, I really love the turn by turn guidance that Google Navigation provides, particularly when I'm going somewhere I've never been before.

 

[hollydolly]

I have what's been nicknamed a "Sat-Nav- Brain... I've got a super sense of direction always have...

I have a Sat-Nav in my car and also on my phone , which I have used on the odd occasion to find somewhere in a different country... but rarely ever use here ... If I'm going somewhere new, I only have to look at a Map once, and the route is imprinted on my brain... friends and family are always impressed ..lol...if only I could make money out of it...

 

[StarSong]

And then, would you use GPS, to find your way back home?
I need to know.

Always! All joking aside though, when I'd ask for directions to get back home, someone would inevitably say, "Just reverse how you got here."
Are you freaking kidding me? Anyone with no sense of direction will commiserate with me on that one. Trust me, it's an impossibility to reverse the directions. After the first turn I'd be hopelessly lost.

When I've stopped and asked for directions, I ask for the next three turns only. They think I'm crazy and say that won't get me where I'm going. I just say that it's ok, when I get to the third turn I'll stop and ask someone else for the next three turns.

 

[carouselsilver]

I have a bad sense of direction. To top it off, I frequently mix up my left and right. This is a learning disorder. I have ways I deal with it. For instance, I remember the fork goes on the left for a place setting. When driving and keeping in mind the next few turns, I sqeeze my hand on the steering wheel. For example, for upcoming left right left turns, I squeeze my hands in that pattern. I can remember patterns.

I also cannot follow any directions given, usually by men, that use north/south/east/west instead of left and right. What do you do when the road starts out going north and then curves west?

One thing I can count on is that if I think I should turn left (remembering directions), it always turns out I should have turned right.

I used to tell my kids that they were not lost, because they were with me.

Google Maps works for me -- but I have to be extra careful that I turn right (not left) when it tells me to.

I have that directional issue as well. Being tired makes it so much worse! I am always getting left and right mixed up, and it shows!

 

[Buckeye]

bought our first GPS system (Garmin) about 12 years ago when we moved out of state. Now, the car has one built in plus the map function on cell phone. Would not be without them.

Also, my dash board has a display for what direction I am going

I threw away all paper maps the same day I ditched all my cassettes.

 

[feywon]

I wouldn't doubt it, I'm pretty sure that relying on "spell checker" has allowed my ability to recall and spell to atrophy. Google search is so reliable, instant and thorough that I really don't have to bother remembering anything anymore, I know I can always re-Google it.
That said, I really love the turn by turn guidance that Google Navigation provides, particularly when I'm going somewhere I've never been before.

See i use search engines to fact-check myself, and they often end up helping to build my confidence in my memory. Spellings of people or place names and occasional the precise year something happened i'll be mistaken about and glad i checked--but i usually get close enough on the names that it pulls up what/who i'm searching for and i'm usually within a year either way on dates of some event. Spell/grammar check have come a long way since early days. My first year of Psych courses (in the early 1990s) it drove me crazy having to add the jargon to my word processing typewriter's dictionary. i also play word games on my kindle (like Bookworm, word search ones) among other games to keep brain sharp.

Google does not always have the most efficient route, once directed me to drive half block past an entrance and make a U-turn on busy 4 lane street despite the fact there was an opening in the center divider with turn a lane, that had clearly been weathered (so in use for a while) that allowed a straight shoot into the first entrance behind the building in less time and more safely than a U Turn. It also doesn't always update properly when a public destination like government offices relocates. This happened recently with a county courthouse--if you put in 'Sandoval County Courthouse' it showed you the old location, if you put in the street address it showed you the new one.

 

[feywon]

Cell phones which essentially put most all your contacts on speed dial have impacted memory of phone numbers. And when all us boomers are gone i doubt many will know how to read an analog clock. Tho i actually like digital clocks in terms of accuracy, the auto updating (wish they'd make stove clocks that did that when power returns after an outage) etc. Younger generations unless culturally literate like my kids won't understand the expression: "I've got your 6." Or directions on hand placement on steering wheels using analog clock terms.

i keep thinking too of the chaos a 'Carrington Event' would cause in today's world. The more dependent we all become on 'devices' the more chaos will ensue should we get a CME that coincides with our magnetic field fluctuations due to magnetic pole shift, which are actually going on now, but they haven't figured out how to predict when actual shift will happen--and that's problematic because we will essentially be unprotected for however long (seconds to hours, maybe even days i think) it lasts when making the big shift. The odds are relatively low but increase with increasing frequency of our magnetic field fluctuations.

If it even just impacted the satellites that orbit feeding info to devices and facilitating communications. As it is, they have in last couple of years had to recalibrate some GPS satellites due to the actual axis of earth shifting more than its usual 'wobble'...it's been drifting toward Siberia. Kind amusing because when most people hear the phrase 'pole shift' they tend to think of that Axis line and imagine the earth physically flipping to switch the North and South poles. i've spent a lot of time explaining in various places--that 'no just the magnetic poles switch places'. And now in last few years that geographic axis has actually started doing more than just 'wobble.

 

[Sunny]

I've managed to get lost literally around the corner from my home. I was fairly new in the neighborhood, and not that familiar with street names, so the street signs didn't help. Fortunately, I had a gps to use, which directed me the very short distance back home. I was sure I could hear the thing laughing!

 

[feywon]

I've managed to get lost literally around the corner from my home. I was fairly new in the neighborhood, and not that familiar with street names, so the street signs didn't help. Fortunately, I had a gps to use, which directed me the very short distance back home. I was sure I could hear the thing laughing!

i almost put laugh reaction as my family sometimes anthropomorphizes our cars, i've been naming them since around 1990.

While i don't have or need GPS, the last two cars i've had have been NAGS, thankfully only with sounds and lights not voice admonishments. Some features i like--i can check tire pressure from inside the car- there's a diagram on my dash i can switch to check a little sketch of car with the pressure of each tire next to where each tire located. My last car just flashed 'tire low' on my dash with no clue which one and if it's only down 30 or 31 it's not as visible--which while i was glad it didn't wait till very obviously low--having to check every tire to find which one was a chore with my bad knees and back.

 

[StarSong]

Cell phones which essentially put most all your contacts on speed dial have impacted memory of phone numbers. And when all us boomers are gone i doubt many will know how to read an analog clock. Tho i actually like digital clocks in terms of accuracy, the auto updating (wish they'd make stove clocks that did that when power returns after an outage) etc. Younger generations unless culturally literate like my kids won't understand the expression: "I've got your 6." Or directions on hand placement on steering wheels using analog clock terms.

i keep thinking too of the chaos a 'Carrington Event' would cause in today's world. The more dependent we all become on 'devices' the more chaos will ensue should we get a CME that coincides with our magnetic field fluctuations due to magnetic pole shift, which are actually going on now, but they haven't figured out how to predict when actual shift will happen--and that's problematic because we will essentially be unprotected for however long (seconds to hours, maybe even days i think) it lasts when making the big shift. The odds are relatively low but increase with increasing frequency of our magnetic field fluctuations.

If it even just impacted the satellites that orbit feeding info to devices and facilitating communications. As it is, they have in last couple of years had to recalibrate some GPS satellites due to the actual axis of earth shifting more than its usual 'wobble'...it's been drifting toward Siberia. Kind amusing because when most people hear the phrase 'pole shift' they tend to think of that Axis line and imagine the earth physically flipping to switch the North and South poles. i've spent a lot of time explaining in various places--that 'no just the magnetic poles switch places'. And now in last few years that geographic axis has actually started doing more than just 'wobble.

Humans tend to catastrophize change. When velcro shoes first became popular in children's sizes there was much hue and cry that children would never learn to tie their shoes. The actual net result of velcro shoe closures was that parents could tell preschoolers to put on their shoes and the task was able to be accomplished without further adult intervention - other than sometimes advising them to swap their shoes to the opposite feet. (Millennials seem quite adept at tying their shoes, so it all worked out ok.)

My grandchildren are learning to read analog clocks at exactly the age I learned it. Analog clocks remain very popular and are not in great danger of dying out with our generation. (I never heard the expression "I've got your 6" and had to look it up.)

There's nothing sacred about remembering phone numbers. It was a century-long phenomenon at best, and most people had committed only a dozen or so numbers to memory anyway. Others were written down in address books that we stashed near our phones. These days our memories get daily workouts bringing to mind website URLs, email addresses, user names, and passwords.

If there's a massive solar flare or other disaster that affects power grids, electronics and far-reaching communications the majority humans will muddle through. We are an extraordinarily inventive, highly adaptable species.

If we can figure out how to stop fouling our planet or killing each other, we'll probably be ok. Granted, those are very big asks.