How GPS Switches Off Your Brain

Using GPS Could Be Bad For Your Brain, According To New Research

Long Story Short

Using GPS technology "switches off" parts of the brain that would normally help you find your destination by simulating different routes. 

Long Story

We can all agree that maps apps and sat nav devices are absolute lifesavers. We always know where we’re going, there’s no faffing around with road atlases anymore, and the number of divorces that start with arguments over poor map reading must be at an all-time low.
But GPS technology could actually be getting your brain nowhere.

A new study, published in Nature Communications and funded by Wellcome, saw 24 volunteers navigate a simulation of Soho in central London (a tricky little labyrinth of streets for any newcomer to the city).

The study measured activity in hippocampus, used for memory and navigation, and the prefrontal cortex, used in planning and decision making.


Researchers found spikes of activity in both areas of brain when volunteers navigated the streets manually, and even greater activity when presented with multiple route options.  

Conversely, no activity was registered when the volunteers used sat navs.

This backs up a previous UCL studies that that recorded activity in the hippocampi of taxi drivers as they learn their way around London, and a lack of activity in drivers who use sat navs.

In short, if you’re using GPS, your brain’s not learning how to work out directions for itself – which the hippocampus  would do by simulating potential routes.

Dr Hugo Spiers, lead author of the new research, said: "Our results fit with models in which the hippocampus simulates journeys on future possible paths while the prefrontal cortex helps us to plan which ones will get us to our destination.

“When we have technology telling us which way to go, however, these parts of the brain simply don't respond to the street network. In that sense our brain has switched off its interest in the streets around us."


Of course, it’s little wonder that London, a complex network of streets in all directions, would get the brain working overtime. Dr Spiers’ research also found that navigating the grid layout of area like Manhattan would take less mental effort.

So next time you need to find a location, do yourself a favour and let your brain do driving.