The relationship between navigation abilities and mental disorders: Poster

This study examined the relationship between aspects of navigational ability and behavioral traits associated with various mental disorders. We propose that navigational ability may utilize the same brain circuitry that has dysfunction in certain mental disorders and may be a beneficial early marker for these disorders. This study was inspired by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC), a framework outlined by NIMH to study the basic dimensions of functioning that span the range of behavior from normal to abnormal. For example, we hypothesized that spatial perspective taking, which is important for navigation, could be associated with social perspective taking in disorders such as autism spectr…