Building a Cognitive Science of Human Variation: Individual Differences in Spatial Navigation

The aim of this issue is to take stock of cognitive science of human variation in the field of spatial navigation, an important domain in which debates have often assumed an invariant human mind. Addressing the challenge of individual differences requires cognitive scientists to change their practices in several ways. First, we need to consider how to design measures and paradigms that have adequate psychometric characteristics. Second, using reliable, efficient, and valid measures, we need to examine how people vary from time to time, both in the short run due to emotions, such as stress or time pressure, and in the longer run, due to training or living in physical environments that require wayfinding skills. Third, we need to study people different from the traditional college participants, including variations in age, gender, education, culture, physical environment, and possible interactions among these variables.

Automated summary

The aim of this paper is to summarize the cognitive science of human variation in spatial navigation, an important area where debates have often assumed a consistent human mind. Addressing individual differences requires cognitive scientists to change their practices by designing measures and paradigms with adequate psychometric characteristics, studying variations in people's navigation skills due to factors like emotions and physical environments, and examining people different from traditional college participants in terms of age, gender, education, culture, and physical environment.