News Psychology

Navigation research often excludes the environment. That’s starting to change

Decades of research suggests navigation strategies studied in a lab may not replicate in real life

Evenki reindeer herders rely on environmental features to navigate.

Evenki reindeer herders in Siberia rely on place names and river flow patterns to navigate.

Michael Runkel/robertharding/Getty Images

By Sujata Gupta

On a trip to Siberia in 2019, cognitive scientist Pablo Fernandez Velasco attended a raffle drawing with the region’s Evenki reindeer herders. Prizes included a soccer ball, tea, a portable radio, a GPS unit and other knickknacks. A herder won the GPS. “I thought [that] was one of the fancier prizes,” says Velasco, of the University of York in England.