Experimental Psychology

World-centered navigation | Dr Kate Jeffery | TEDxRAIUL

To compensate for our environmental disorientation, we use technology – paper maps, signposts, & smartphones. We use devices to essentially teleport us from one place to another, paying little attention to our surroundings and losing connection with the in-between. This disconnection from our surroundings causes people-jams in crowded spaces, but it also has another consequence: it separates us from our planet, such that we’ve stopped caring about it. Dr. Jeffery is a medical graduate and Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at UCL. Her research involves recording of neurons in the rodent brain during navigation, to understand how the brain represents complex environments. She aims to bring emerging knowledge about the cognitive neuroscience of navigation to the outside world to influence the design of cities and of navigation technology.