From Objects to Landmarks: the Function of Visual Location Information in Spatial Navigation

Overview

Journal Front Psychol

Date 2012 Sep 13

PMID 22969737

Citations 31

Authors

Edgar Chan

Oliver Baumann

Mark A Bellgrove

Jason B Mattingley

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Landmarks play an important role in guiding navigational behavior. A host of studies in the last 15 years has demonstrated that environmental objects can act as landmarks for navigation in different ways. In this review, we propose a parsimonious four-part taxonomy for conceptualizing object location information during navigation. We begin by outlining object properties that appear to be important for a landmark to attain salience. We then systematically examine the different functions of objects as navigational landmarks based on previous behavioral and neuroanatomical findings in rodents and humans. Evidence is presented showing that single environmental objects can function as navigational beacons, or act as associative or orientation cues. In addition, we argue that extended surfaces or boundaries can act as landmarks by providing a frame of reference for encoding spatial information. The present review provides a concise taxonomy of the use of visual objects as landmarks in navigation and should serve as a useful reference for future research into landmark-based spatial navigation.

Citing Articles

Spatial prediction of dynamic interactions in rats.

Dvorakova T, Lobellova V, Manubens P, Sanchez-Jimenez A, Villacorta-Atienza J, Stuchlik A PLoS One. 2025; 20(2):e0319101.

PMID: 39999096 PMC: 11856586. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319101.

Improved Navigation Performance Through Memory Triggering Maps: A Approach.

Dickmann F, Keil J, Korte A, Edler D, O Meara D, Bordewieck M KN J Cartogr Geogr Inf. 2024; 74(3-4):251-266.

PMID: 39712551 PMC: 11659358. DOI: 10.1007/s42489-024-00181-x.

Shortcutting from self-motion signals reveals a cognitive map in mice.

Xu J, Girardi-Schappo M, Beique J, Longtin A, Maler L Elife. 2024; 13.

PMID: 39526583 PMC: 11554306. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.95764.

The influence of landmark visualization style on task performance, visual attention, and spatial learning in a real-world navigation task.

Kapaj A, Hilton C, Lanini-Maggi S, Fabrikant S Spat Cogn Comput. 2024; 24(4):227-267.

PMID: 39507088 PMC: 11537298. DOI: 10.1080/13875868.2024.2328099.

Learning to use landmarks for navigation amplifies their representation in retrosplenial cortex.

Fischer L, Xu L, Murray K, Harnett M bioRxiv. 2024; .

PMID: 39229229 PMC: 11370392. DOI: 10.1101/2024.08.18.607457.

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