Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The development of path integration: Combining estimations of distance and heading

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Experimental Brain Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Efficient daily navigation is underpinned by path integration, the mechanism by which we use self-movement information to update our position in space. This process is well understood in adulthood, but there has been relatively little study of path integration in childhood, leading to an underrepresentation in accounts of navigational development. Previous research has shown that calculation of distance and heading both tend to be less accurate in children as they are in adults, although there have been no studies of the combined calculation of distance and heading that typifies naturalistic path integration. In the present study, 5-year-olds and 7-year-olds took part in a triangle-completion task, where they were required to return to the start point of a multi-element path using only idiothetic information. Performance was compared to a sample of adult participants, who were found to be more accurate than children on measures of landing error, heading error, and distance error. Seven-year-olds were significantly more accurate than 5-year-olds on measures of landing error and heading error, although the difference between groups was much smaller for distance error. All measures were reliably correlated with age, demonstrating a clear development of path integration abilities within the age range tested. Taken together, these data make a strong case for the inclusion of path integration within developmental models of spatial navigational processing.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Acredolo LP, Evans D (1980) Developmental changes in the effects of landmarks on infant spatial behavior. Dev Psychol 16:312–318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen GL, Kirasic KC (1985) Effects of the cognitive organization of route knowledge on judgments of macrospatial distance. Mem Cognit 13:218–227

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Alyan S, McNaughton BL (1999) Hippocampectomized rats are capable of homing by path integration. Behav Neurosci 113:19–31

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berthoz A, Amorim MA, Glasauer S, Grasso R, Takei Y, Viaud-Delmon I (1999) Dissociation between distance and direction during locomotor navigation. In: Golledge RG (ed) Wayfinding: cognitive mapping and spatial behavior. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Blades M, Medlicott LD (1992) Developmental differences in the ability to give route directions from a map. J Environ Psychol 12:175–185

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bredin J, Kerlirzin Y, Israel I (2005) Path integration: is there a difference between athletes and non-athletes? Exp Brain Res 167:670–674

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bremner JG, Hatton F, Foster KA, Mason U (2011) The contribution of visual and vestibular information to spatial orientation by 6-to 14-month-old infants and adults. Dev Sci 14:1033–1045

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campos JJ, Anderson DI, Barbu-Roth MA, Hubbard EM, Hertenstein MJ, Witherington D (2000) Travel broadens the mind. Infancy 1:149–219

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Corlett JP, Patla AE, Williams JG (1985) Locomotor estimation of distance after visual scanning by children and adults. Perception 14:257–263

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cornell EH, Heth CD (2000) Route learning and wayfinding. In: Kitchin R, Freundschuh S (eds) Cognitive maps: past, present, and future. Routledge, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliott D (1987) The influence of walking speed and prior practice on locomotor distance estimation. J Motor Behav 19:476–485

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Frank AU (1991) Qualitative spatial reasoning with cardinal directions. In: 7 Österreichische artificial-intelligence-Tagung/Seventh Austrian conference on artificial intelligence. Springer, Berlin, pp 157–167

  • Fujita N, Klatzky RL, Loomis JM, Golledge RG (1993) The encoding error model of pathway completion without vision. Geograph Anal 25:295–314

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallistel CR (1990) The Organization of Learning. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Giovannini L, Jacomuzzi AC, Bruno N, Semenza C, Surian L (2009) Distance perception in autism and typical development. Perception 38:429–441

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Golledge RG (1999) Human wayfinding and cognitive maps. In: Golledge RG (ed) Wayfinding behavior. The Johns Hopkins University Press, USA

    Google Scholar 

  • Golledge RG, Smith TR, Pellegrino JW, Doherty S, Marshall SP (1985) A conceptual model and empirical analysis of children’s acquisition of spatial knowledge. J Environ Psychol 5:125–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hermer L, Spelke ES (1994) A geometric process for spatial reorientation in young children. Nature 370:57–59

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hund AM, Plumert JM (2003) Does information about what things are influence children’s memory for where things are? Dev Psychol 39:939–948

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Klatzky RL, Loomis JM, Golledge RG, Cicinelli JG, Doherty S, Pellegrino JW (1990) Acquisition of route and survey knowledge in the absence of vision. J Mot Behav 22:19–43

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kovas I, Kozma P, Fehér A, Benedek G (1999) Late maturation of visual spatial integration in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci 96:12204–12209

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Learmonth AE, Newcombe NS, Huttenlocher J (2001) Toddlers’ use of metric information and landmarks to reorient. J Exp Child Psychol 80:225–244

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Loomis JM, Klatzky RL, Golledge RG, Cicinelli JG, Pellegrino JW, Fry PA (1993) Nonvisual navigation by blind and sighted: assessment of path integration ability. J Exp Psychol Gen 1:73–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loomis JM, Klatzky RL, Golledge RG, Philbeck JW (1999) Human navigation by path integration. In: Golledge RG (ed) Wayfinding: cognitive mapping and spatial behaviour. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt ML, Mittelstaedt H (1980) Homing by path integration in a mammal. Naturwissenschaften 67:566–567

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt H, Mittelstaedt ML (1982) Homing by path integration. In: Papi F, Wallraff HG (eds) Avian navigation. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Mittelstaedt ML, Mittelstaedt H (2001) Idiothetic navigation in humans: estimation of path length. Exp Brain Res 139:318–332

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Müller M, Wehner R (2010) Path integration provides a scaffold for landmark learning in desert ants. Curr Biol 20:1368–1371

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nardini M, Jones P, Bedford R, Braddick O (2008) Development of cue integration in human navigation. Curr Biol 18:689–693

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pellicano E, Smith AD, Cristino F, Hood BM, Briscoe J, Gilchrist ID (2011) Children with autism are neither systematic nor optimal foragers. Proc Natl Acad Sci 108:421–426

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Philbeck JW, Loomis JM, Beall AC (1997) Visually perceived location is an invariant in the control of action. Percept Psychophys 59:601–612

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pickering SJ (2001) The development of visuo-spatial working memory. Memory 9:423–432

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Plester B, Richards J, Blades M, Spencer C (2002) Young children’s ability to use aerial photographs as maps. J Environ Psychol 22:29–47

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumert JM, Spencer JP (2007) The emerging spatial mind. Oxford University Press, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Presson CC (1987) The development of landmarks in spatial memory: the role of differential experience. J Exp Child Psychol 44:317–334

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rider EA, Rieser JJ (1988) Pointing at objects in other rooms: young children’s sensitivity to perspective after walking with and without vision. Child Dev 59:480–494

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rieser JJ, Pick HL Jr (2007) Using locomotion to update spatial orientation: what changes with learning and development? In: Plumert JM, Spencer JP (eds) The emerging spatial mind. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Rieser JJ, Rider EA (1991) Young children’s spatial orientation with respect to multiple targets when walking without vision. Dev Psychol 27:97–107

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruddle RA, Lessels S (2006) For efficient navigational search, humans require full physical movement, but not a rich visual scene. Psychol Sci 17:460–465

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saint Paul UV (1982) Do geese use path integration for walking home? In: Papi F, Wallraff HG (eds) Avian Navigation. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Shemyakin FN (1962) General problems of orientation in space and space representations. In: Ananyey BG (ed) Psychological science in the USSR, vol 1. Office of Technical Services, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Siegel AW, White SH (1975) The development of spatial representations of large-scale environments. Adv Child Dev Behav 10:9–55

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Smith AD, Gilchrist ID, Hood BM (2005) Children’s search behaviour in large-scale space: developmental components of exploration. Perception 34:1221–1229

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Smith AD, Howard CJ, Alcock N, Cater K (2010) Going the distance: spatial scale of athletic experience affects the accuracy of path integration. Exp Brain Res 206:93–98

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wan X, Wang RF, Crowell JA (2013) Effects of basic path properties on human path integration. Spat Cogn Comput 13:79–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Wehner R, Srinivasan MV (1981) Searching behaviour of desert ants, genus Cataglyphis (Formicidae, Hymenoptera). J Comp Physiol 142:315–338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wiener JM, Mallot HA (2006) Path complexity does not impair visual path integration. Spat Cogn Comput 6:333–346

    Google Scholar 

  • Wiener JM, Berthoz A, Wolbers T (2011) Dissociable cognitive mechanisms underlying human path integration. Exp Brain Res 208:61–71

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Worsley CL, Recce M, Spires HJ, Marely J, Polkey CE, Morris RG (2001) Path integration following temporal lobectomy in humans. Neuropsychologia 39:452–464

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the children and carers who took part in the experiment and are particularly grateful to Dr Lucy Cragg and the rest of the Summer Scientist Week organising committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Alastair D. Smith & Laura McKeith

  2. Division of Psychology, Nottingham Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham, NG1 4BU, UK

    Christina J. Howard

Authors
  1. Alastair D. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Laura McKeith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Christina J. Howard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alastair D. Smith.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, A.D., McKeith, L. & Howard, C.J. The development of path integration: Combining estimations of distance and heading. Exp Brain Res 231, 445–455 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3709-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-013-3709-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation