SCANN Lab

In other words, memory seems to be biased toward a familiar or preferred way of seeing a scene or object, and then the brain expands or contracts the memory of what we have seen to match that preferred view.

They showed that this transition point was not related to how far away the viewer is, but rather to the view that people considered to “look best” (cont.)

As we move away from an object our view shifts along a continuum from object (when we are close) to scene (when we are far away). Park et al. examined this continuum.
@taliakonkle.bsky.social
jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx...

Their behavioral testing also confirmed that people generally rate concave shapes more as scenes compared to convex ones. This is consistent with the idea that scenes are perceived as something that we can act within (hence the concavity).

Concavity as a diagnostic feature of visual scenes Despite over two decades of research on the neural mechanisms underlying human visual scene, or place, processing, it remains unknown what exactly a “…

Using concave versus convex images of scenes and objects, this article found that PPA corresponds more strongly to concave scenes/objects compared to convex ones. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Although the discovery happened decades earlier, the ability to synchronize the animal’s location with neural firing using newly developed technology led to greater acceptance of place cells and the concept of a cognitive map (although controversial) in the scientific community.

Here, John O'keefe, the 2014 Nobel Prize winner, describes the process of discovering hippocampal place cells that led to his Nobel Prize. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

As the paper notes, the reason for this behavior in older rats (and in humans) is still unclear. Anatomically, this might be due to reliance on extra-hippocampus circuits rather than circus within the hippocampus which typically support allocentric strategies.

Older Rats Switch Between Distinctly Different Behavior Strategies to Solve the Spatial Version of the Morris Watermaze It has been established that aged rats are worse at learning the spatial version of the Morris watermaze task compared to their younger counterparts. It remains unclear, however, whether this poorer ...

Using the Morris Watermaze, researchers found that younger rats converge on allocentric strategies earlier in the trials, while older rats continue switching between allocentric and egocentric strategies until the last trial.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

This shows how well a space is encoded correlates with better encoding of new information encountered in that space. Smaller spaces with more corners tend to be better remembered. These findings could inform environmental design, especially for those with impaired navigation.

In this recent study, the researchers looked at the usefulness of spaces as placeholders for memories. They assessed how well different spaces are encoded and how well an object within those spaces is remembered at a later time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This study shows leisure activities support domain-specific protection against cognitive decline in visual attention and memory beyond job type & education. Given the role of these processes in spatial navigation, such activities might preserve navigational abilities with aging.

New findings suggest memory framing effects are more complex than previously thought and may not require emotional arousal:
psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...

Ece Yuksel presented her poster “Age differences in spatial navigation across real and virtual worlds: A mixed-methods approach” at Psychonomic Society 2025, for which she was awarded the Graduate Travel Award. See all SCANN Lab Psychonomic posters here: scannlab.org/psynom-2025

4 smiling people in a wintry icicle like landscape

We are now spread across three institutions, but the SCANN LAN is now reunited at @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social

@eceyuksel.bsky.social @adamjbarnas.com @chengsiy.bsky.social

Representing the MemoLab at Psychonomics, Valentina Krenz will be presenting tomorrow, poster II-153, on the effects of retrieval practice on memory precision 🌠

I will be presenting my latest endeavor on spatial navigation strategy optimization featuring RL modeling and a new DSP task!
And here's link to our fleet: scannlab.org/psynom-2025

See you around the Poster session I at I-069!
@scannlab.bsky.social
@psychonomicsociety.bsky.social
#psynom25

Ashish Sahoo, Poster II-080 on Friday @ 12pm

Ashish presents a meta-analysis examining the correlation between hippocampal volume and navigation and memory performance. The work-in-progress shows a weak relation, but also publication bias

Ashish is also on the job market and looking for post-docs!

Ece Yuksel, Poster I-073 on Thursday @ 6pm

Ece presents her qualitative/quant study in which she asks younger and older adults about their actual navigation behavior (and combines this with their performance on Virtual Silcton.)

Ece is on the job market and looking for post-docs!

Chengsi Yi, Poster I-069 on Thursday @ 6pm.

Chengsi presents ongoing work modeling a navigation task using Q-learning to determine how risk and cognition impact strategy choice. He also discusses an ongoing task based on the Dual Solution Paradigm, which gives navigators more range to explore.

Postcard with information about three presenters from the SCANN Lab and information about their poster session. More information in the subsequent posts about each one.

The SCANN Lab will be at @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social this week (except for @stevenmweisberg.bsky.social - he's stuck in Texas.)

If you're there, connect with our awesome PhD students!

And if you're NOT there, you can still follow our work. www.scannlab.org/psynom-2025

A Voyage Into the Art of Finding One’s Way at Sea

A huge thankyou to @alexaroblesgil.bsky.social for covering our research in the Marshall Islands for the @nytimes.com !

In the photo Ken Daniels (an expert indigenous sailor) is looking towards the horizon whilst wearing an fNIRS system.

Analysis underway!

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/s...

New Texas initiative could shape the future of dementia research, scientists say Researchers hope the proposed institute will expedite scientific discoveries and AI innovation.

We are excited to announce that Dr. Steven Weisberg, was recently featured in The Dallas Morning News!

Read the full article here:
www.dallasnews.com/news/2025/10...

Newly trained navigation and verbal memory skills in humans elicit changes in task-related networks but not brain structure Learning new navigation or memory skills engages flexible brain network dynamics without altering gray matter, white matter, or hippocampal structure.

what happens when you spend two weeks learning new navigation or memory skills? as shown in our recent paper below, brain network connectivity changes but not hippocampal or other brain volumes! special thanks to collaborators Li Zheng and Steve Weisberg

elifesciences.org/articles/106...