Hugo Spiers

Title: Navigating in Cities and on the Ocean

Abstract: This seminar will discus recent research from our group exploring spatial navigation in cities and in the pacific ocean. Discoveries from project Sea Hero Quest will be presented where we tested over 4 million participants on their navigation ability in an virtual navigation task in a mobile app. Insights from route planning in London taxi drivers and navigation test with over 100 people in a crowded fabricated 1:1 art gallery space will be discussed. Finally the preliminary insights from the Voyage to Aur project will be presented where we sailed over 3 days in pacific ocean collecting continuous spatial estimates from indigenous sailors from the Marshall Islands aboard the yacht Stravaig.

Bio: Hugo Spiers is Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, and a Vice Dean for Enterprise, at University College London (UCL). He has over 25 years of research experience in neuroscience and psychology studying how our brain recalls the past, navigates the present and imagines the future. He has published over 100 academic articles and received numerous awards including the Charles Darwin Award from the British Science Association and a James McDonnell Foundation Scholar Award. He is co-director of the International Centre for NeuroArchitecture and NeuroDesign, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation, a Lighthouse Fellow of the Centre for Conscious Design and the Vice Chair of the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture in the UK. His research project Sea Hero Quest has tested over 4 million people in 195 nations on their navigation ability, providing a powerful benchmark for assessment in Alzheimer's disease and global insight into cognition.