Editing Navigation (section)

==Navigation in spatial cognition==
Navigation is an essential everyday activity that involves a series of abilities that help humans and animals to locate, track, and follow paths in order to arrive at different destinations.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=November 2017 |title=Focus on spatial cognition |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.4666 |journal=Nature Neuroscience |language=en |volume=20 |issue=11 |pages=1431 |doi=10.1038/nn.4666 |pmid=29073640 |s2cid=205441391 |issn=1546-1726}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Wolbers |first1=Thomas |last2=Hegarty |first2=Mary |date=March 2010 |title=What determines our navigational abilities? |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364661310000021 |journal=Trends in Cognitive Sciences |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=138–146 |doi=10.1016/j.tics.2010.01.001|pmid=20138795 |s2cid=15142890 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Navigation, in [[spatial cognition]], allows for acquiring information about the environment by using the body and [[Landmark|landmarks]] of the environment as [[Frame of reference|frames of references]] to create [[Mental representation|mental representations]] of our environment, also known as a [[cognitive map]]. Humans navigate by transitioning between different spaces and coordinating both [[Frame of reference|egocentric and allocentric frames of reference]].

Navigation can be distinguished into two sptial components: locomotion and wayfinding.<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Montello |first=Daniel R. |title=Navigation |date=2005-07-18 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511610448%23c80710-dcz-s9i-re2-gh5/type/book_part |work=The Cambridge Handbook of Visuospatial Thinking |pages=257–294 |editor-last=Shah |editor-first=Priti |edition=1 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511610448.008 |isbn=978-0-511-61044-8 |access-date=2022-05-06 |editor2-last=Miyake |editor2-first=Akira|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Locomotion is the process of movement from one place to another, both in humans and in animals. Locomotion helps you understand an environment by moving through a space in order to create a mental representation of it.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APA Dictionary of Psychology/Locomotion |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/locomotion |access-date=2022-05-06 |website=dictionary.apa.org |language=en}}</ref> [[Wayfinding]] is defined as an active process of following or deciding upon a path between one place to another through mental representations.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=GOLLEDGE |first=Reginald G. |date=December 2000 |title=Cognitive Maps, Spatial Abilities, and Human Wayfinding |url=https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/7262/1/RK-Cognitive.pdf |journal=Geographical Review of Japan |volume=73 |pages=93–104}}</ref> It involves processes such as representation, planning and decision which help to avoid obstacles, to stay on course or to regulate pace when approaching particular objects.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tolman |first=Edward C. |date=1948 |title=Cognitive maps in rats and men. |url=http://doi.apa.org/getdoi.cfm?doi=10.1037/h0061626 |journal=Psychological Review |language=en |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=189–208 |doi=10.1037/h0061626 |pmid=18870876 |issn=1939-1471|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Navigation and wayfinding can be approached in the [[Spatial cognition|environmental space]]. According to [[Daniel R. Montello|Dan Montello]]’s [[Spatial cognition|space classification]], there are four levels of space with the third being the environmental space. The environmental space represents a very large space, like a city, and can only be fully explored through movement since all objects and space are not directly visible.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Denis |first=Michel |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351596183 |title=Space and Spatial Cognition: A Multidisciplinary Perspective |date=2017-11-13 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-315-10380-8 |edition=1 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315103808}}</ref> Also [[Barbara Tversky]] systematized the space, but this time taking into consideration the three dimensions that correspond to the [[Axis (anatomy)|axes]] of the human body and its extensions: above/below, front/back and left/right. Tversky ultimately proposed a fourfold classification of navigable space: space of the body, space around the body, space of navigation and space of graphics.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tversky |first=Barbara |date=January 2003 |title=Structures Of Mental Spaces: How People Think About Space |url=http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0013916502238865 |journal=Environment and Behavior |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=66–80 |doi=10.1177/0013916502238865 |s2cid=16647328 |issn=0013-9165|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Wayfinding===
There are two types of wayfinding in navigation: aided and unaided.<ref name=":1" /> Aided wayfinding requires a person to use various types of [[Media (communication)|media]], such as [[Map|maps]], [[Global Positioning System|GPS]], [[Direction, position, or indication sign|directional signage]], etc., in their navigation process which generally involves low spatial reasoning and is less cognitively demanding. Unaided wayfinding involves no such devices for the person who is navigating.<ref name=":1" /> Unaided wayfinding can be subdivided into a [[taxonomy]] of tasks depending on whether it is undirected or directed, which basically makes the distinction of whether there is a precise destination or not: undirected wayfinding means that a person is simply [[Exploration|exploring]] an environment for pleasure without any set destination.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=Wiener |first1=Jan M. |last2=Büchner |first2=Simon J. |last3=Hölscher |first3=Christoph |date=2009-05-20 |title=Taxonomy of Human Wayfinding Tasks: A Knowledge-Based Approach |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13875860902906496 |journal=Spatial Cognition & Computation |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=152–165 |doi=10.1080/13875860902906496 |bibcode=2009SpCC....9..152W |s2cid=16529538 |issn=1387-5868|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Directed wayfinding, instead, can be further subdivided into search vs. target approximation.<ref name=":2" /> Search means that a person does not know where the destination is located and must find it either in an unfamiliar environment, which is labeled as an uninformed search, or in a familiar environment, labeled as an informed search. In target approximation, on the other hand, the location of the destination is known to the navigator but a further distinction is made based on whether the navigator knows how to arrive or not to the destination. Path following means that the environment, the path, and the destination are all known which means that the navigator simply follows the path they already know and arrive at the destination without much thought. For example, when you are in your city and walking on the same path as you normally take from your house to your job or university.<ref name=":2" /> However, path finding means that the navigator knows where the destination is but does not know the route they have to take to arrive at the destination: you know where a specific store is but you do not know how to arrive there or what path to take. If the navigator does not know the environment, it is called path search which means that only the destination is known while neither the path nor the environment is: you are in a new city and need to arrive at the train station but do not know how to get there.<ref name=":2" /> Path planning, on the other hand, means that the navigator knows both where the destination is and is familiar with the environment so they only need to plan the route or path that they should take to arrive at their target. For example, if you are in your city and need to get to a specific store that you know the destination of but do not know the specific path you need to take to get there.<ref name=":2" />