Why do some people have a better sense of direction than others? - Oliver Baumann · TED-Ed
探索方向感的神经科学原理，了解为何有些人导航能力强而有些人容易迷路。适合练习听力与理解方向相关词汇。
In July of 2025, top athletes competed in a kilometers-long race— but it had no set path.
2025年7月，顶尖运动员参加了一场长达数公里的比赛——不过这场比赛并没有固定的路线（即参赛者可以自由选择行进路线）。
That's because it was the World Orienteering Championships,
那是因为这是世界定向越野锦标赛。
and participants equipped with only maps and compasses were expected to find their way between far-off checkpoints at high speeds,
而那些仅配备了地图和指南针的参与者，被要求以较高的速度找到通往遥远检查点的路线。
weaving between trees, sprinting over rocks, and skirting cliffs.
在树林间穿梭、在岩石上飞奔、绕过悬崖……
This might sound a little daunting.
这听起来可能有点令人生畏（或：有点让人感到困难/沮丧）。
But whether you identify as a wayfinding whiz or get lost returning from the grocery store,
但无论你认为自己是个寻路高手，还是在从杂货店回家的路上迷了路……
your brain has a built-in navigation system that facilitates spatial skills, from sensing which direction is north to map reading and route learning.
你的大脑内置了一套导航系统，这套系统有助于提升你的空间感知能力——从判断“北”方向的位置，到阅读地图以及学习行进路线。
It consists of two major parts: the striatum and the hippocampus.
它主要由两部分组成：纹状体（striatum）和海马体（hippocampus）。
The striatum is clued into sensory inputs, like nearby landmarks.
纹状体能够接收来自感官系统的信息，例如周围的地标等视觉信息。
With repetition, it comes to associate specific stimuli and actions with certain responses and outcomes, linking these cues with set routes.
通过反复练习，人们能够将特定的刺激和行为与相应的反应及结果联系起来，从而将这些信号与既定的“处理流程”（即行动步骤）建立关联。
This forms navigation habits; for example, when you automatically take the same sequence of turns on your way home.
这些行为逐渐形成了人们的导航习惯——例如，当你回家时总会自动按照相同的路线行驶（即按照相同的转弯顺序行驶）。
The hippocampus, meanwhile, constructs continuous, dynamic mental maps of your environment.
与此同时，海马体会持续不断地构建关于你所处环境的动态心理地图（即心理模型）。
It helps you figure out how to get somewhere, even if you've never been or haven't taken that exact route before.
这能帮助你弄清楚如何到达某个地方，即使你以前从未去过那里，也没有走过那条具体的路线。
Researchers realized the hippocampus’ importance in mental mapping in the 70s, while observing rats’ brain activity
研究人员在20世纪70年代通过观察大鼠的大脑活动，意识到了海马体在心理空间构建（即“心理地图”形成）过程中的重要作用。
and noticing that specific neurons in the hippocampus fired when the rats were in certain spaces.
研究人员观察到：当老鼠处于特定空间时，海马体中的某些神经元会活跃起来（即这些神经元会放电）。
The same thing also happened in complete darkness, indicating that these neurons, which came to be called “place cells,” formed cognitive maps independent of sensory input.
同样的现象也发生在完全黑暗的环境中，这表明这些后来被称为“位置细胞”的神经元能够在没有感官输入的情况下形成认知地图。
It seems that activity in these areas during sleep represents a kind of place replay as the brain consolidates spatial information.
似乎在睡眠期间，这些区域的活动其实是一种“场景重放”过程——大脑通过这种方式来巩固空间信息。
And in 2005, researchers discovered additional types of navigational neurons in the region surrounding the hippocampus.
2005年，研究人员在海马体周围区域发现了更多类型的导航神经元。
This includes “grid cells,” which fire in a regular pattern as one moves, providing the brain with a kind of internal coordinate system.
这其中包括所谓的“网格细胞”：当人移动时，这些细胞会以规律的模式被激活，从而为大脑提供一种内在的坐标系统。
Together, the breakthrough discoveries that put place and grid cells on the map earned the 2014 Nobel Prize.
这些突破性的发现将“位置细胞”（place cells）和“网格细胞”（grid cells）的研究成果纳入科学体系，因此三位相关科学家共同获得了2014年的诺贝尔奖。
But while the striatum and hippocampus form a navigation system that allows our brains to adapt between strategies depending on the task,
虽然纹状体和海马体共同构成了一个导航系统，使我们的大脑能够根据任务的不同在各种策略之间进行切换，
we still struggle to find our ways.
我们仍在努力寻找属于自己的道路（或：仍在摸索如何前进）。
In the absence of strong external cues, people tend to make small errors that send them off course and into circles.
在缺乏强烈外部提示的情况下，人们往往会犯一些小错误，这些错误会让他们偏离正确的方向，陷入循环往复的错误中。
And generally, some of us find ourselves lost more often than others.
一般来说，我们中的一些人比其他人更容易感到迷茫或迷失方向。
Most people can handle a striatum-centric, well-practiced route; but those who lean more on hippocampus-forward self-orienting tend to stand out as navigators.
大多数人能够掌握以纹状体为中心、经过充分训练的导航路线；而那些更依赖海马体来辅助自我定位的人，则往往在导航能力方面表现得更为出色。
Twin studies suggest that genetics account for around 60% of the variation in our navigation abilities.
双胞胎研究显示，遗传因素在我们的导航能力差异中占据了约60%的比例。
These abilities appear independent of general intelligence, suggesting that navigation is its own distinct cognitive skill.
这些能力似乎与一般智力无关，这表明“导航”本身是一种独立的认知技能。
And crucially, research indicates that it’s one that can be practiced and improved.
至关重要的是，研究表明这种能力是可以通过实践来提升的。
Compared to people from suburban and rural areas, those who grew up in cities— especially ones with more uniform,
与来自郊区和农村地区的人相比，那些在城市中长大的人——尤其是那些生活在城市环境较为统一（即城市发展模式较为相似）地区的人——往往具有不同的特点和行为方式。
grid-like layouts— appear to struggle more with navigating less ordered environments.
网格状的布局在应对混乱、无序的环境时显得更加难以使用（即用户在这些环境中更难顺利地进行导航）。
And in a 2010 study, rugby players and martial artists were blindfolded and asked to navigate back to a starting point.
在2010年的一项研究中，橄榄球运动员和武术爱好者被蒙上眼睛，然后被要求返回起始点。
The rugby players, who train at much larger scales,
这些橄榄球运动员的训练规模要大得多；
did so with more directional accuracy, suggesting that the difference in their spatial training improved their judgement across longer distances.
他们在执行任务时表现出更高的方向判断准确性，这表明他们在空间感知训练方面的差异提升了他们对较长距离目标的判断能力。
London cab drivers, meanwhile, must learn what’s referred to as “the knowledge,”
与此同时，伦敦的出租车司机必须学习所谓的“行业知识”（即与出租车服务相关的专业知识和技能）。
which consists of extensive routes and landmarks across the city’s infamously complex maze of streets.
该系统由遍布全市街道的众多路线和地标组成；而这些街道以极其复杂的布局而闻名于世。
Those who successfully complete the training have been observed to experience significant hippocampal growth.
观察发现，成功完成培训的人其海马体（大脑中与记忆相关的重要结构）会显著增大。
But the brain’s malleability can be a double-edged sword.
然而，大脑的可塑性是一把双刃剑。
While GPS devices reliably get us around, they lead to worse spatial reconstructions than verbal directions and paper maps do.
虽然 GPS 设备能够可靠地帮助我们导航，但它们生成的空间信息重建效果却不如口头指引或纸质地图那么准确。
By allowing our brains to engage less actively with environmental cues, GPS may degrade the hippocampal navigation system and impair our own internal sense of direction.
由于让大脑对环境信号的响应变得不那么主动（即减少大脑的主动参与程度），GPS技术可能会削弱海马体中的导航功能，进而影响我们自身的方向感。
So, to help improve it, you can try putting your GPS away on more familiar routes and paying attention to distant landmarks.
为了帮助改善这种情况，你可以在较为熟悉的路线上暂时关闭 GPS 的导航功能，并留意远处的地标。