Biology subjects

Manley, E.

Publications and source records attributed to Manley, E..

11 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

London taxi drivers leverage regional boundaries to optimise route choices and improve their navigation skill across three decades

The world is defined by boundaries. They segment our experience of time and space, and in virtual environments have been shown to impact navigational choices. Here, we test the impact of boundaries on route choices in a real-world environment (London, UK) with a group of expert navigators: licensed London taxi drivers who are required to memorise the layout of over 26,000 streets to obtain their licence. After presenting photographs of a start location and a goal location, taxi drivers were asked to either accept or reject a third target street as forming part of the direct route or not. Performance increased across the adult life-span period in this group (age: 34 to 67). Taxi drivers were faster and more accurate when the target location formed part of a street network boundary (e.g. streets on the edge of the London neighbourhood Soho). Our results are consistent with taxi drivers exploiting the graph structure of the street network to plan routes, as well as consistent with the formation of hierarchical state representations to reduce the dimensionality of the planning problem. Taken together, we show that navigational skill can improve over decades of exposure and that experts exploit regional boundaries for optimal choices, providing a scaffolding over which to form action plans.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Expert Navigators Deploy Rational Hierarchical Priorization Over Predictive Maps For Large-Scale Real-World Planning

Efficient planning is a distinctive hallmark of intelligence in humans, who routinely make rapid inferences over complex world contexts. However, studies investigating how humans accomplish this tend to focus on naive participants engaged in simplistic tasks with small state-spaces, which do not reflect the intricacy, ecological validity, and human specialisation in real-world planning. In this study, we examine the street-by-street route planning of London taxi drivers navigating across more than 26,000 streets in London (UK). We explore how planning unfolded dynamically over different phases of journey construction and identify theoretic principles by which these expert human planners rationally precache decisions at prioritised environment states in an early phase of the planning process. In particular, we find that measures of path complexity predict human mental sampling prioritisation dynamics independent of alternative measures derived from the real spatial context being navigated. Our data provide real-world evidence for complexity-driven remote state access within internal models and precaching during human expert route planning in very large structured spaces. Significance statementHumans can plan efficiently in incredibly complex situations. Existing work has looked at naive participants in simple tasks, which might not be representative of how experts plan in the real world. Here, we study the real-world planning process of London taxi drivers - famous for their expert knowledge of London. By analyzing their response times as a proxy for thinking times, we reveal that at an early stage in their thought process, they store decisions at key street junctions to keep them in mind for later planning. Using computational modeling, we show that taxi drivers prioritize inference at street junctions according to normative metrics measuring how critical a particular decision is for reducing the complexity of planning across the entire city.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

London taxi drivers exploit neighbourhood boundaries for hierarchical route planning

Humans show an impressive ability to plan over complex situations and environments. A classic approach to explaining such planning has been tree-search algorithms which search through alternative state sequences for the most efficient path through states. However, this approach fails when the number of states is large due to the time to compute all possible sequences. Hierarchical route planning has been proposed as an alternative, offering a computationally efficient mechanism in which the representation of the environment is segregated into clusters. Current evidence for hierarchical planning comes from experimentally created environments which have clearly defined boundaries and far fewer states than the real-world. To test for real-world hierarchical planning we exploited the capacity of London licensed taxi drivers to use their memory to construct a street by street plan across London, UK (>26,000 streets). The time to recall each successive street name was treated as the response time, with a rapid average of 1.8 seconds between each street. In support of hierarchical planning we find that the clustered structure of Londons regions impacts the response times, with minimal impact of the distance across the street network (as would be predicted by tree-search). We also find that changing direction during the plan (e.g. turning left or right) is associated with delayed response times. Thus, our results provide real-world evidence for how humans structure planning over a very large number of states, and give a measure of human expertise in planning.

neuroscience↗

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

From overconfidence to task dropout in a spatial navigation test: evidence for the Dunning-Kruger effect across 46 countries

Overconfidence and the Dunning-Kruger effect have been reported in many cognitive domains. However, there is little examination in the field of spatial navigation. Here, we examined overconfidence in navigation ability in 376,836 participants from 46 countries. We tested navigation using our virtual wayfinding task in the app-based video game Sea Hero Quest, examined self-ratings of navigation ability and how many game levels participants had played before they dropped out. The main goal of this analysis was to investigate how performance of overconfident participants influenced the dropout rate from our experimental task embedded in a video game. First, we measured and modelled overestimation at baseline game levels. Age was found to be the strongest predictor of overestimation across the entire sample. Higher age was associated with increased overconfidence in all 46 countries and 11 distinct cultural clusters. Female participants were more likely to overestimate their performance across most of the life course (19-59 years old), however older men (60-70 years old) displayed highest overconfidence amongst all age-gender groups. Overconfidence also varied widely across countries. Secondly, we estimated performance on follow-up game levels for those who were previously identified as overconfident and we found that those who were more likely to display the Dunning-Kruger effect (i.e., poor performance while being overconfident) were predominantly female and older participants. Finally, survival analysis methods with time-dependent covariates revealed that poor wayfinding performance, while being overconfident, was one of the strongest predictors of task dropout. This Dunning-Kruger bias on participants dropout existed universally across all countries in our data.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Handedness and its association with education and spatial navigation assessed in over 400,000 participants across 41 countries

There is an active debate concerning the association of handedness and spatial ability. Past studies used small sample sizes within a single country. Determining the effect of handedness on spatial ability requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants, and a navigation task with real-world validity. Here, we overcome these challenges via the mobile app Sea Hero Quest. We analysed the navigation performance from 422,772 participants from 41 countries and found no reliable evidence for any difference in spatial ability between left- and right-handers across all countries. Using 749,037 participants from the larger sample, we replicate previous findings that age, gender, and country of residence have an impact on the prevalence of left-handedness, and found an effect of education on left-handedness prevalence in China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Our study clarifies the factors associated with spatial ability and outlines new ways in which cultural patterns influence handedness. Statement of RelevanceWhat is the relation between handedness and navigation ability? Evidence so far has been mixed, and findings from small-scale and large-scale tasks seem to point in opposite directions. Part of the reason is that cultural and sociodemographic differences have a significant impact on both spatial ability and handedness. Tackling the question requires a large, cross-cultural sample of participants performing an ecologically valid navigation task. Here, we employ a mobile app, Sea Hero Quest, to test the navigation ability of a large number of participants across many different countries. What we find is that there is no reliable connection between handedness and navigation ability. Then, we use our data to explore the prevalence of left-handedness across countries, and find that age, gender, and country of residency all have an effect on the ratio of left-handedness. Moreover, we find an effect of education on left-handedness in China, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Cultural determinants of the gap between self-estimated navigation ability and wayfinding performance: evidence from 46 countries.

Cognitive abilities can vary widely. Some people excel in certain skills, others struggle. However, not all those who describe themselves as gifted are. One possible influence on self-estimates is the surrounding culture. Some cultures may amplify self-assurance and others cultivate humility. Past research has shown that people in different countries can be grouped into a set of consistent cultural clusters with similar values and tendencies, such as attitudes to masculinity or individualism. Here we explored whether such cultural dimensions might relate to the extent to which populations in 46 countries overestimate or underestimate their cognitive abilities in the domain of spatial navigation. Using the Sea Hero Quest navigation test and a large sample (N=383,187) we found cultural clusters of countries tend to be similar in how they self-rate ability relative to their actual performance. Across the world population sampled, higher self-ratings were associated with better performance. However, at the national level, higher self-ratings as a nation were not associated with better performance as a nation. Germanic and Near East countries were found to be most overconfident in their abilities and Nordic countries to be most under-confident in their abilities. Gender stereotypes may play a role in mediating this pattern, with larger national positive attitudes to male stereotyped roles (Hofstedes masculinity dimension) associated with a greater overconfidence in performance at the national level. We also replicate, with higher precision than prior studies, evidence that older men tend to overestimate their navigation skill more than other groups. These findings give insight into how culture and demographics may impact self-estimates of our abilities.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Learning The Knowledge: How London Taxi Drivers Build Their Cognitive Map of London

Licenced London taxi drivers have been found to show changes in the grey matter density of their hippocampus over the course of training and decades of navigation in London (UK). This has been linked to their learning and using of the Knowledge of London, the names and layout of over 26,000 streets and thousands of points of interest in London. Here we examined the process of how this knowledge is acquired and we detail key steps that include: systematic study of maps, travel on selected overlapping routes, the mental visualisation of places and the optimal use of subgoals. We provide the first map of the street network covered by the routes used to learn, allowing insight into where gaps in the network exist. The methods could be widely applied to aid spatial learning in the general population and may provide insights for artificial intelligence (AI) systems to efficiently learn new environments.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Cities have a negative impact on navigation ability: evidence from 38 countries

Cultural and geographical properties of the environment have been shown to deeply influence cognition and mental health[1-6]. While living near green spaces has been found to be strongly beneficial [7-11], urban residence has been associated with a higher risk of some psychiatric disorders [12-14] (although see [15]). However, how the environment one grew up in impacts later cognitive abilities remains poorly understood. Here, we used a cognitive task embedded in a video game[16] to measure non-verbal spatial navigation ability in 397,162 people from 38 countries across the world. Overall, we found that people who grew up outside cities are better at navigation. More specifically, people were better at navigating in environments topologically similar to where they grew up. Growing up in cities with low Street Network Entropy (e.g. Chicago) led to better results at video game levels with a regular layout, while growing up outside cities or in cities with higher Street Network Entropy (e.g. Prague) led to better results at more entropic video game levels. This evidences the impact of the environment on human cognition on a global scale, and highlights the importance of urban design on human cognition and brain function.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Thrombospondins 1 and 2 affect lysyl oxidase protein and collagen matrix maturation in cortical bone of growing male and female mice via non-redundant pathways

Thrombospondin-2-deficiency is associated with impaired matrix maturation in osteoblasts and cortical bone of growing mice. Here we addressed the possibility that lysyl oxidase (LOX) contributes to this phenotype. After overnight serum starvation, pro-LOX levels were elevated compared to wild-type in marrow-derived osteoblasts from male and female TSP2-/- mice. The liberated LOX pro-peptide (LOPP) was faintly visible in serum-starved cultures. When serum was maintained, pro-LOX content was not affected by TSP2 status, but relative LOPP levels were elevated in cultures from female TSP2-/- mice. Two isoforms of pro-LOX at 75 kDa and 50 kDa were detected in detergent soluble protein extracts of diaphyseal tissue from growing mice. In female mice, TSP2 status did not affect detergent soluble pro-LOX content or the relative contribution of each band to the total signal. Instead, levels of the 50 kDa band were reduced in female TSP1-/- samples. In male diaphyseal tissue, total pro-LOX content and the contribution each isoform made to the total signal was not affected by TSP1 or TSP2 status. We did not detect 32 kDa mature LOX in detergent soluble preparations of cells or whole bone tissue. Detergent insoluble hydroxyproline content was reduced in diaphyseal tissue obtained from female TSP1-/- and TSP2-/- mice. In male diaphyseal cortical samples, TSP2 but not TSP1 deficiency was associated with reduced insoluble hydroxyproline content. Our data suggest that the trimeric thrombospondins contribute to bone matrix quality via non-redundant mechanisms that are dependent on the unique tissue milieu of the male and female skeleton.

cell biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Global determinants of navigation ability

Countries vary in their geographical and cultural properties. Only a few studies have explored how such variations influence how humans navigate or reason about space [1-7]. We predicted that these variations impact human cognition, resulting in an organized spatial distribution of cognition at a planetary-wide scale. To test this hypothesis we developed a mobile-app-based cognitive task, measuring non-verbal spatial navigation ability in more than 2.5 million people, sampling populations in every nation state. We focused on spatial navigation due to its universal requirement across cultures. Using a clustering approach, we find that navigation ability is clustered into five distinct, yet geographically related, groups of countries. Specifically, the economic wealth of a nation was predictive of the average navigation ability of its inhabitants, and gender inequality was predictive of the size of performance difference between males and females. Thus, cognitive abilities, at least for spatial navigation, are clustered according to economic wealth and gender inequalities globally, which has significant implications for cross-cultural studies and multi-centre clinical trials using cognitive testing.

neuroscience↗