where does sense of direction come from?

Submitted by Danjeczko3 t3_yuyrw9 in askscience

I’m wondering if my ancestors couldn’t stray more than 2 miles from their camp or my parents didn’t let me wander enough as a kid. While I think I’m above average in other cognitive areas (music, math, even visual stuff like autocad drawing), i have the worst sense of direction. I get to places and have almost no recollection how i got there directionally. It’s worse for me when i’m traveling in a group. I thank god and google everyday for gps and maps. Where does one’s sense of direction come from and are there ways to improve it?

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[deleted] t1_iwdtvle wrote

"Grid cells" in the hippocampus. They're one of the few systems all mammals have seemingly fully functioning at birth. In a nutshell they're a network of neurons at the very center of your brain, responsible for remembering the order in which neural activity occurs. Think of it like taking all the frames of a movie and keeping them in order. The frames aren't stored there, more like the sequence of commands for regenerating the scene a la a computer generated scene in a video game.

They also play a very strong role in coordinating neural activity in general (in concert with other regions of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex), so that we can switch between thinking about past, present, and future. Pulses are sent out rhythmically, and on a task specific basis, to say "this idea is in the past, present, future, past, present, future, past past past, future, future," etc.

They're also very strongly implicated in our ability to think abstractly, however this doesn't mean that people who have poor direction sense have difficulties abstracting. The brain is complicated.

General primer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grid_cell

Some details: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4364032/

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Krail t1_iwes61n wrote

Oh, that's really interesting. So that's perhaps the reason why we so often use spatial metaphors for time and for memorization?

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[deleted] t1_iwexc06 wrote

It's certainly not unrelated! Really every aspect of cognition is adapted to operate in a 1-4D space to some degree. One of the fundamental mechanisms of thought on a cellular and network level is anticipation: does the sequence of stimulation I'm receiving match a learned sequence? If yes does the sequence that follows meet what I expect? If so I will fire according to xyz parameters. If I'm very certain I might suppress the firing of my neighbors "I got this one guys!" (see "lateral inhibition")

This is part of the purpose of the theta wave signaling from the hippocampus. It helps to orchestrate a global sequence "before - during - after" so that in concert we can model a 4D simulation of reality in noodle-space.

Disruptions to the ability to consciously direct your attention to the present are typical in OCD, ADHD, Autism, and more, which share disruptions to parts of this network.

In ADHD, Autism, and Schizophrenia there are also disruptions in "lateral inhibition" to varying extents in various regions. Schizophrenia has more issues with audio processing (hearing voices), ADHD thinks like a seizure "and this is relevant and this, and together that makes this other thing, which is interesting because........", and people on the spectrum tend to be overwhelmed with sensory information. Lateral inhibition doesn't explain all of those conditions, but it seems to be an interesting part of them.

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okaythanksbud t1_iwgj1x1 wrote

Any chance this relates to the theta rythm? I watched a video on that and your description of their function reminds me of that

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dittybopper_05H t1_iwc0pzx wrote

It's a practiced skill like any other. And like any skill, some people are inherently better at it with a given amount of practice. Also, it can degrade without practice.

I absolutely eschew GPS because it kills your sense of direction. You don't need to know what direction you're going if "Bitching Betty*" is telling you where to go all the time.

Some of it is understanding how a town is laid out. For example, in Manhattan, the roads that run northeast/southwest are Avenues, and they're numbered from 1 to 12 from east to west. The ones that run northwest/southeast are streets, and they're numbered sequentially going north. In general, that is.

Some of it is knowing that if the Sun is on your right in the afternoon, you're headed generally south, that sort of thing.

One time as a teenager I was in a folding kayak taking a trip down a river and when I got to the lake at the end, I couldn't go farther because the waves on the lake were too high (didn't have a spray skirt). But I knew the highway was to the west and that I could find a phone there (this is the 1980's). So I pulled the kayak out of the water and I walked to the west. Didn't walk in circles because I knew how to avoid that in the woods.

I probably should have had a compass, and generally carry one now if I know I'm going into the woods, but you can get buy without one if you are practiced enough, and I used to do a lot of walking in the woods back then.

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*Name I came up with for the GPS that was in a relative's car during a long trip. When I was driving (long enough that we took shifts driving) back towards home it tried to route me a way that I knew from experience wasn't the optimum way. I eventually turned it off.

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12monthspregnant t1_iwcih5r wrote

Ok. I need to know. How to you not walk in circles in the woods?

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dittybopper_05H t1_iwcp4rr wrote

Pick a tree or rock that's ahead of you in the distance. Walk to it. Do it again once you get there. Repeat ad nauseum.

If you have to detour around something, do it at right angles. So say there is a pond in the way (or whatever. Get close to the edge, turn 90 degrees left or right and walk (while counting steps). When you can clear it, turn 90 degrees right (if you made a left initially). Then walk until you've cleared it, turn 90 degrees right, walk the same number of steps you did before, and when you hit that, turn 90 degrees right.

Also, keep an eye out for other clues. In *SOME* instances, moss will only grow on the north side of trees and rocks. So if moss is only on one side, that's generally north-ish. If it's all around the tree or rock, it's useless as an indicator.

Being able to see the sun and knowing the time is perhaps the best indication, absent a compass. If you have to go west, you want the sun at your back in the morning, to your left (north of the tropics) around local noon, and in front of you in the afternoon.

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Krail t1_iwet7xc wrote

A few other random orienteering tips I've learned. Plants will often lean one way or another in response to sunlight and prevailing winds. You can sometimes look for which way trees lean, or which side of a tree has thicker foliage cover to orient yourself.

If you're lost and trying to find your way, one of the best things you can do is find a clear, elevated spot that lets you survey the landscape (be very careful about climbing. The last thing you want when lost in the woods is a broken leg). Look for easily recognized landmarks, and look for signs of water. Knowing which species of tree grow by river banks can help, but you can often spot water by looking for especially lush spots in low lying areas. If you do find a water source, it's a fair bet that following it downstream will lead to civilization eventually.

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dittybopper_05H t1_iwg972c wrote

I was going to mention the river thing, but sometimes that's not necessarily the best thing. If your destination is to the west but the river runs north/south, that's not really much of a help.

If your destination is "get me the *F* out of here, I don't care where", then yeah.

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Ok-Championship-2036 t1_iwg54bh wrote

There are parts of the world where groups navigate using ONLY cardinal directions (north south east west). In these parts of the world, they found that each person has an innate sense of where North is. They can all navigate this way, but their language doesnt have ANY relational words (front back left right top bottom). So they always use compass points. I think that tribe was in the Amazon. Not sure how they saw the stars.

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