The Editor of the Psychonomic Society’s journal Learning & Behavior , Jonathon Crystal, has launched a new section of the journal that is intended to provide an outlook on the field and a venue for discussion of the most exciting current research in learning and behavior. Jonathon blogged about this new initiative here. So what are those outlook […]

Human beings are not perfect and our cognitive flaws are legendary—for example, we are not aware of how dangerous our distracted driving is and tend to think that it is others who are bad drivers. People can, however, hold an immense amount of information in mind and use this to navigate space more efficiently and accurately than […]

What’s the quickest way from the bottom of Bay Street to Eglinton and Yonge? And how about from NYU to Times Square? Or from Checkpoint Charlie to Unter den Linden? If you are familiar with Toronto, New York City, and Berlin, then you can probably answer those questions with relative ease. (Hint: don’t try to […]

Millions of pilgrims descend upon Mecca every year during the Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars. The faithful gather to perform several rituals. For example, each person walks counter-clockwise seven times around the Ka’aba, a large black cube that determines the direction of prayer for Muslims around the world. Unfortunately, this event is not without its own list of […]

Stepping right when your next destination is straight ahead: Your ultimate plans guide your navigation now When Christopher Columbus reached the new world, he famously thought he had circumnavigated the globe and landed in India. This may be history’s most famous navigational error but it is far from the only one. Although people are quite good […]

Where is the cheese? Within-compound spatial learning in rats Spatial cognition is crucial for our survival as it allows us to remember where to find food, water and shelter. But, with a vast amount of information surrounding us, which of the many cues do we actually use when trying to reach a goal? And how […]