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Updated: Jul 11, 2026
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Assessing Human Spatial Navigation in a Virtual Space and its Sensitivity to Exercise
Published on: January 26, 2024
Gray matter differences correlate with spontaneous strategies in a human virtual navigation task
Véronique D Bohbot1, Jason Lerch, Brook Thorndycraft
1Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Verdun, Quebec, Canada H4H 1R3. veronique.bohbot@mcgill.ca
Summary
Spatial navigation strategies in humans are linked to brain structure. Spatial learners show greater hippocampal gray matter, while response learners have more in the caudate nucleus, suggesting a brain region competition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) previously linked spatial memory strategies to hippocampal activity and response strategies to caudate nucleus activity in a virtual radial maze.
- Individual differences in navigational strategies are spontaneously employed by healthy young adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between individual differences in navigational strategies and brain structure using voxel-based morphometry.
- To identify specific brain regions whose gray matter volume covaries with the use of spatial versus response strategies.
Main Methods:
- Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was employed to analyze structural MRI data.
- Participants navigated a virtual radial maze, and their strategies were categorized as spatial or response-based.
- Gray matter volumes in the hippocampus and caudate nucleus were compared between strategy groups.
Main Results:
- Spatial learners exhibited significantly greater gray matter volume in the hippocampus compared to response learners.
- Response learners showed significantly greater gray matter volume in the caudate nucleus compared to spatial learners.
- A negative correlation was observed between hippocampal and caudate nucleus gray matter, indicating a potential competitive interaction. Gray matter in hippocampus-connected regions also covaried with hippocampal gray matter.
Conclusions:
- Navigational strategy preference is associated with distinct patterns of gray matter distribution in the human brain, specifically in the hippocampus and caudate nucleus.
- The findings suggest a competitive relationship between brain regions supporting spatial and response-based navigation.
- These results have implications for understanding hippocampal function, age-related changes, and potential interventions for conditions like Alzheimer's disease, highlighting the protective role of spatial strategies.
