Gahnstrom, C. J. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

Individuals learning to drive solo before age 18 have superior spatial navigation ability compared with those who learn later

A challenge associated with driving vehicles can be navigating to the destination. While driving experience would seem beneficial for improving navigation skill, it remains unclear how driving experience relates to wayfinding ability. Using the mobile video game-based wayfinding task Sea Hero Quest, which is predictive of real-world navigation, we measured wayfinding ability in US-based participants (n = 694, 291 men, 403 women, mean age = 26.8 years, range = 18-52 years). We also asked travel-related self-report questions, including the age one started learning to drive, the age one started driving solo and weekly driving hours. A multivariate linear regression model found that those who started driving solo below aged 18 had significantly better wayfinding ability than those starting to drive solo aged 18 and above. Other driving-related self-report measures were not associated with wayfinding ability. Future studies should determine the directionality of the association between driving experience and wayfinding ability.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Shorter reported sleep duration in men is associated with worse virtual spatial navigation performance

Sleep has been shown to impact navigation ability. However, it remains unclear how different sleep-related variables may be independently associated with spatial navigation performance, and as to whether gender may play a role in these associations. We used a mobile video game app, Sea Hero Quest (SHQ), to measure wayfinding ability in US-based participants. Wayfinding performance on SHQ has been shown to correlate with real-world wayfinding. Participants were asked to report their sleep duration, quality, daytime sleepiness and nap frequency and duration on a typical night (n = 737, 409 men, 328 women, mean age = 27.1 years, range = 18-59 years). A multivariate linear regression was used to identify which self-reported sleep variables were independently associated with wayfinding performance. For men, longer self-reported sleep durations were associated with better wayfinding performance. For women, no such association was found. While other self-reported sleep variables showed trends of association with wayfinding performance, none of these were significantly associated with wayfinding performance in our regression model. These findings from younger U.S.-based participants suggest that a longer self-reported sleep duration may be an important contributor to successful navigation ability in men.

neuroscience↗