Navigating through new locations ia a pretty important aspect of travelling. To some of us, it looks like finding our way comes naturally. To others, it’s an entirely different story. If you’re someone who always gets lost and you’ve been wondering why that is, science might give you the answer to your questions.
Generally speaking, people tend to think navigational skills are genetic. That they’re something you’re either born with or not and that there’s nothing you can do to change that. However, several studies have now shown this might actually not be true.
Experience
A study from 2020 carried out by developmental psychologist Margherita Malanchini from the Queen Mary University of London looked at 2,600 identical and nonidentical twins to find out whether or not navigation is genetic. And even though there appeared to be a very small link, non shared environmental factors (or personal experiences) turned out be far more important.
The importance of experience was also demonstrated in a study by cognitive neuroscientist Hugo Spiers from the University College London. Together with mobile company T-Mobile, he developed a game called Sea Hero Quest which tests the player’s navigation skills while they navigate by boat which, at the same time, asked all 4 million players some basic demographic data. The results showed a link between navigation and culture: people from Nordic countries scored better than average, as did country folk and people from cities with chaotic lay-outs. According to the researchers, those changes come from everyday experiences and even underline clichés such as men being better navigators than women, as in many cultures they do have more chances to explore than women. In regions with a high gender equality, those clichés don’t apply.
On the other hand, not having to find our way negatively impacts our navigation skills. In 2020, neuroscientists Louisa Dahmani and Véronique Bohbot of McGill University in Montreal did some research into GPS use and found out that those who relied most often on GPS, were worst at navigating without them. Practising finding your way without the help of a GPS could therefore improve your navigation skills.
Personality
Together with experience, personality has an impact on our navigational skills too. People who explore more (when they get the chance to do so), will build up more experience. The two therefore often go hand in hand. People who are into hiking, biking and other activities that require navigation, will in the end be better at finding their way than others, according to Mary Hegarty, a cognitive psychologist from the University of California.
Skillset
Finally, by building experience, humans acquire a certain skillset which can identify a good navigator. To be able to get around easily, knowing how far you’ve travelled, reading maps and remembering them, learning routes based on landmarks and being able to know where you are in relation to a landmark are all important. Especially the ability to build a mental map turns out to be determining.
“When the only skill you have is the ability to think in terms of routes, you can’t be creative to get around barriers”, said Dan Montello, geographer and psychologist at the University of California.
