Children as young as five can navigate a 'tiny town'

Children as young as five can navigate a 'tiny town'

Neuroscientists are developing methods to map the brain systems that allow us to recognize and get around our world.

Children as young as five can navigate a ‘tiny town’ - Scientific Inquirer

Many behavioral studies suggest that using landmarks to navigate through large-scale spaces — known as map-based navigation — is not established until around age 12. A neuroscience study at Emory University counters that assumption. Through experiments combining brain scans and a virtual environment the researchers dubbed Tiny Town, they showed that five-year-olds have the brain system that supports map-based navigation. The journal Proceedings …