Using GPS disables the "navigation system" of your brain

If you ever thought of your smartphone as a second brain, such an analogy is not too far from the truth. A new study says that when a person follows navigation instructions, for example, GPS devices, part of his brain, which is usually responsible for navigation, begins to remain silent.

"The data shows that when you shift the navigation task to your GPS, you simply follow the instructions, and although this can still be a difficult task, it may not be as demanding as an independent route planning," said the first author of the study Amir-Homayun Javadi, a neuroscientist from the University of Kent in the UK.

This can lead to the fact that over time people will find it increasingly difficult to use the brain to develop a new route.

The discovery of "navigation" cells

Our built-in "navigator" in the brain is one of the most expensive of its miracles. The discovery of nerve cells in the brain of mice that determine where the animal is located led to the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2014.

These cells are contained in a section of the brain called the hippocampus. We rely on him to store and resume memories, plan the future and to find our way in the world.

New research

In a study that appeared in the journal Nature Communications on March 21, scientists determined how we use the brain to create a new route.

Twenty-four participants in the study attempted to make a route to Soho (a district in central London), while researchers using the scanner controlled their brain activity.

In some studies, participants had to find the right way, choosing a left or right turn each time they were at an intersection. In other cases, they just had to press the button to follow the optimized path. Researchers analyzed activity patterns in the hippocampus of each participant, as well as in the prefrontal cortex, involved in the planning and decision-making process.

How we plan a new route

They found that when participants had to move by themselves, without the help of GPS, the activity of the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex matched the decisions they had to make. For example, when they entered a new street, the activity of the hippocampus showed that the brain was monitoring changes in the number of available routes that they could use. When participants were forced to make a detour, prefrontal activity increased, which was combined with difficulties in planning a new route.

Nevertheless, when the participants followed the instructions of the navigator to navigate through this area, the named areas of the brain did not show the same activity, the researchers found.

"The results we have obtained are consistent with the models according to which the hippocampus predicts a trip by future possible routes, whereas the prefrontal cortex helps to plan which ones will lead us to the goal," said Hugo Spears, a researcher at the Institute of Behavioral Neurobiology at University College London, who led the study. - When the technology told the participants where to go, the named parts of the brain did not react to the network of streets. In this sense, their brains were not interested in the streets around. "

Positive influence

The consequences of using GPS tools instead of the brain are not necessarily completely negative. By delegating a demanding mental task to the device, you can free the mental resources for other purposes. Thus, we are talking about changing the skills we need.

In fact, children who grow up with smartphones can develop a set of skills that differs from that of previous generations, as they do not have to remember all the information, but rather know how to find it on the Internet.

The findings of the study show that in modern children the entire brain develops in a different way, not just the hippocampus. The human brain is constantly changing, as it has to adapt to new conditions, needs and opportunities. These changes, however, do not mean that the next generation will no longer activate the hippocampus for navigation. We can use GPS for the streets, but still need to navigate the Internet mazes.