From the Library: From Here to There, The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way

 Place cells, head direction cells, grid cells, boundary cells - before reading From Here to There, I might have thought these things sounded suspiciously imaginary, certainly nothing that small and, seemingly, inconsequential could be responsible for our ability to navigate through our surroundings. And, though I had heard of things like hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, I was certainly unfamiliar with the roles those (and other) areas of the our brain play today, as well as played in our species' distant, murky past, in orienting our place in the world and making spatial sense out of our surroundings. 

Much of the book follows a psychological path to navigation, which parts of the brain are involved in navigation, be it spatial or social, how they function individually and how they interact with one another, processing information and providing cues to wayfinding through the environments we inhabit. "Unsurprisingly, it requires the engagement of multiple regions of the brain: the retrosplenial cortex, which establishes the permanence of landmarks and relates our heading direction to local geometry; the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, which build cognitive maps  and process routes; the prefrontal cortex , which assists with decision-making and planning; the parahippocampal place area and the occipital place area, which interpret visual scenes; and the posterior parietal cortex, which is responsible for visual-spatial perception and coordination..."

Humans have used their brains for spatial orientation since they first started wandering the earth. The ability to learn our place in new landscapes has, in part, allowed humans to inhabit nearly every corner of the planet - far more widespread than any other species. 

The author also considers the impact of degenerative diseases - dementia, alzheimer's, and the like - diseases that clearly affect our ability to relate to our surroundings and navigate in even the most constrictive of spaces. 

While there is no empirical evidence yet linking dependance on satnav type devices in daily living to a decline in navigational capacity, there is enough incidental correlation to suggest a link. Depending on such wayfinding devices may lead to a decline in one's ability to wayfind without them. 

"... use your navigational skills as a prophylactic, putting away your GPS and orienting yourself in the world around you. This is completely untested as a defen[s]e against Alzheimer's yet it is worth considering, since spatial navigation is driven by the areas of the brain that show the first signs of the disease, and keeping them exercised could arguably give them some protection. It's like physical fitness, says neuroscientist Veronique Bohbot. If you don't do anything, your muscles are going to shrink. It's the same thing in the brain. Use your brain or those areas shrink... Bohbot highlights evidence that spatial navigation boosts the hippocampus... It takes time to build a cognitive map. You need curiosity and the inclination to explore, rather than just follow what you know. It's cognitively demanding. Some people don't want to put the work in. She's certain that it's worth the effort, and that we'll appreciate it a few decades down the line."

There is a lot of ground to cover here, so much that it could have become disorienting. The author, though, does a good job of making even the more technical paths readable and easy to follow. Many of the activities we like to do, including mountain biking and hiking, as well as the more mundane everyday tasks require us to be able to get from one point to another - hopefully we don't get lost in the process. These days we could rely on external means to do so, but with so much of our lives turning toward computer assistance, perhaps it is a good idea to turn the tech off and give the age old methods a try. It is good for the brain. Use it or lose it.

Bond, Michael.  From Here to There: The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way.  Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press, Harvard Univeristy, 2020