A novel approach to improved navigation performance through memory triggering maps

Project Information

InnerMap

Grant agreement ID: 101096046

DOI

10.3030/101096046

EC signature date 13 September 2023

Start date 1 January 2024

End date 31 December 2028

Funded under

• European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 498 390,00

EU contribution

€ 2 498 390,00

Coordinated by

RUHR-UNIVERSITAET BOCHUM
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - InnerMap (A novel approach to improved navigation performance through memory triggering maps)

Reporting period: 2024-01-01 to 2026-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

As human mobility increasingly relies on digital navigation systems, these technologies have fundamentally transformed spatial orientation behavior. While navigation systems provide efficient route guidance, converging evidence indicates that they impair the formation of cognitive maps. Compared to conventional map reading, turn-by turn navigation assistance leads to incomplete internal spatial representations, increasing user dependence on external devices and weakening intrinsic orientation skills. This development highlights an urgent scientific and societal need to design navigation systems that actively support, rather than replace, the brain’s spatial representation capacities. This project proposes a paradigm shift in navigation research by developing a neuro-cartographic framework that explicitly integrates internal neural mechanisms underlying spatial orientation. The approach is grounded in recent neuroscientific discoveries of spatially tuned neurons, in particular grid cells in the entorhinal cortex, which provide a metric representation of space and contribute to the formation of stable and coherent cognitive maps. Experimental evidence demonstrates that grid cell activity is stabilized by environmental geometry (e.g. boundaries). These findings open new opportunities for the development of navigation interfaces that are aligned with the brain’s intrinsic spatial coding mechanisms. To date, no systematic framework exists that translates neuroscientific knowledge about spatial representation into navigation interface design.
The project hypothesizes that appropriately designed cartographic and augmented reality (AR) interfaces can externally stabilize grid-cell-based spatial representations, thereby strengthening the formation of cognitive maps. To test this hypothesis, the project will combine neuroimaging, behavioral experimentation, and immersive visualization technologies in a comprehensive interdisciplinary research program. Specifically, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to quantify neural signatures of spatial representation, while virtual reality environments will allow precise manipulation of spatial cues. Eye-tracking and behavioral measures will provide complementary evidence on navigation performance and spatial learning. This multimodal approach makes it possible to derive design principles for navigation systems that actively support cognitive mapping and spatial learning.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The central premise of the project is that salient environmental axes facilitate the stabilization of internal spatial coordinate systems that support navigation in unfamiliar environments. This premise is grounded in neuroscientific evidence demonstrating that spatial navigation is mediated by specialized neural populations, which encode spatial information through structured, environment-dependent firing patterns. The project hypothesizes that cardinal environmental axes can influence grid cell activity and thereby improve navigation performance in path integration tasks.
To investigate this hypothesis, controlled behavioural experiments were conducted using immersive virtual reality (VR) navigation paradigms. Participants performed path integration tasks under systematically manipulated conditions, including a ground-based linear reference axis (“ground line”), a vertical wall structure, or distal environmental cues (mountains) providing stable directional reference information. Two initial experiments revealed similar consistent trends toward improved navigation performance in the ground line condition compared to control condition, although this effect did not reach statistical significance. Importantly, a parallel experiment demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in navigation performance in the presence of distal reference cues compared to conditions without spatial reference structures. This finding provides direct empirical evidence that environmental reference cues can enhance spatial navigation accuracy and supports the hypothesis that external spatial features contribute to the stabilization of internal spatial representations. In contrast, navigation performance in the wall condition was lower than in both the control and ground line conditions, indicating that volatile reference structures can have dissociable effects depending on their geometric and perceptual characteristics. Furthermore, brief exposure to a salient reference axis was sufficient to establish an internal spatial reference frame that remained behaviourally effective even after the external cue was removed. This persistence indicates that environmental reference structures induce sustained internal spatial representations rather than merely providing transient perceptual guidance, consistent with electrophysiological evidence from animal studies. Building on these behavioural findings, upcoming fMRI experiments will directly investigate whether cardinal environmental axes elicit grid cell–related neural activity in the human brain and whether the orientation of hexadirectional grid symmetry axes is reflected in navigation performance. These studies will establish a direct link between environmental structure, behaviour, and grid cell–based neural representations, advancing mechanistic understanding of human spatial cognition.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project advances beyond the current state of the art by establishing a systematic framework to investigate how environmental reference structures influence the formation of internal spatial reference frames presumably associated with grid cell–based representations. In this context, behavioral markers refer to quantitative navigation performance measures, such as positional and directional accuracy in path integration tasks, that provide indirect indicators of the stability and environmental alignment of internal spatial reference frames linked to grid cell–related neural coding.
The project advances fundamental understanding of how external spatial representations interact with internal neural mechanisms to support orientation. By identifying behavioral markers that are sensitive to experimentally controlled environmental configurations, the project provides a novel empirical basis for linking environmental design and the neural mechanisms underlying human navigation. A major advancement of this study is the demonstration that environmental reference structures do not uniformly improve navigation performance. Instead, the results show that different types of spatial reference elements, such as walls and ground lines within an environment, have distinct effects on spatial accuracy. The project indicates, for the first time, a more systematic link between spatial elements and the neural coding of space. By demonstrating that certain spatial configurations can influence the effectiveness of internal spatial coordinate systems, the project provides a scientific basis for the development of next-generation navigation systems. Navigation systems that visualize environmental elements that can specifically contribute to the formation of stable internal spatial representations can improve navigation efficiency. Applying this novel framework to the map design of navigation systems will have a direct positive impact on users' orientation and driving safety. In addition, the new cartographic framework could provide valuable navigation assistance to older adults who suffer from increasing orientation difficulties.