Human Navigation Behaviour and Brain Dynamics in Real-world Contexts

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent research on human navigation and brain activity in real-world and ecological settings, highlighting methods like real-world testing, daily life tracking, virtual simulations, and mobile brain recordings.

Contribution

It synthesizes diverse approaches to studying navigation in naturalistic contexts and discusses future research directions in this emerging field.

Findings

Combining multiple research methods enhances understanding of neural navigation mechanisms.

Real-world and ecological studies provide valuable insights beyond laboratory experiments.

Mobile brain recording methods are promising for real-world navigation research.

Abstract

The study of navigation behaviour and the associated brain dynamics have been a focus increasing research over the last decades. Coinciding with this has been an increased focus on a more ecological understanding of cognition. Here we review recent research seeking to provide a more naturalistic, ecological understanding of human navigation behaviour and brain dynamics. Research in this area falls into four categories: testing navigation in real-world environments, analysis of data collected from tracking individuals during daily life, navigation in simulated or virtual environments mimicking the real-world, and mobile brain recording methods. Combining these different approaches to understand the neural basis of navigation shows excellent promise. We conclude with future directions for this research area.