Spatial Navigation (SPADE)

While moving, even with their eyes closed, people are able to keep track of the changing egocentric (i.e., self-to-object) relations to the objects of their environment. This ability, known as spatial updating, is fundamental to navigation as it supports maintaining one’s orientation in space. Although much research has been carried out on spatial updating in Psychology and Neuroscience (e.g., Wolbers, Hegarty, Büchel, & Loomis, 2008), it is not yet known whether the efficiency with which updating takes place relies on each person’s specific prior embodied experience. By comparing people with various levels of previous dancing experience, the main objective of this project is to extend our understanding of how spatial updating may differ in individuals with greater embodied experience acquired by extensive practice in tasks that entail reasoning about the position of their body in space. This project is funded by the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation under Excellence Hubs 2016 (EXCELLENCE/1216).