It probably should be telling you that if you abuse it by relying on it solely. Just like many other things in this world, it is a tool, not a solution. Like money, a GPS unit is a wonderful servant but a cruel master.

If I have to go somewhere I'm not familiar with after dark, especially in a city, it can be very helpful. Not as helpful, though, as a good 'navigator' in the front seat who's been there a time or two before! GPS's make lousy travel companions, anyway...the conversation leaves a lot to be desired...

In my [worthless] opinion, I think that it's the idiots who can't read a map in the first place that get a GPS. They never 'used' this part of their brain in the first place.

My mother is a perfect example of this. Has no sense of direction whatsoever, gets a GPS, and spends more time inputting the correct address than it would take to print of a map on mapquest/google maps or READ A DAMN ROAD SIGN.

BTW, this reminds me of the episode of The Office where Michael drives into a lake thanks to his GPS. Hilarious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yyKrS8jwSY

It's a combination of stupidity and laziness, this is certain. I know this because multiple times on a daily bases I need to give people an address to a location 5 mile north of me so they can put it in their GPS. It's a straight shot you can't miss it. There are no turns it's just a straight road. They look at me with glazed over eyes when I say it's five miles on the right hand side. Like a deer in headlights.

Good tool, look at a map and know where you are going first.

I don't trust those things any further than I can throw them. If you've ever used one in New Jersey, you know why.

Terrible, terrible directions that have landed me in the middle of cornfields, directed me to train stations that don't exist, constantly had the wrong street name, etc.

I'll take a map any day.

It's a combination of stupidity and laziness

A GPS does a lot more than save you from looking at a map. I check Google to get a general idea of where I'm headed, then I use my GPS to warn me when my turns are coming up so I don't miss them. If you prefer keeping a list of measured directions and an eagle eye on your odometer and constantly checking every street sign (and hoping none are blocked by parked cars or overgrown trees), then more power to you.

I also use my GPS so I can keep my eyes on the road rather than constantly checking a map or directions to figure out how far I have to drive before my next turn. And I use it to answer the question "when are you gonna be here?" when someone calls me while I'm driving. And I use it to figure out a detour if a road is blocked or I miss a turn. And I use it to find a gas station or a restaurant nearby. And I use it if I need to go somewhere that I hadn't anticipated before I left home. And if I get stranded somewhere I can use it to tell emergency services exactly where I'm at. And I use it to warn me when traffic is going to be heavy up ahead.

But yeah, I'm just too lazy to read a map.

My car does have GPS built in but I never use it. If anything i will use the Google maps app, which doesnt talk to me but gives me "turn by turn" I guess. But I only use when I havent been to the "destination" before. For fun, I usually try to find my own way home instead of reversing the directions or looking at the app at all.

Seems like a good idea when driving places you don't know. But, in reality, how many places is that in one year. Is it worth the price? If your answer to the first is under 5, you don't need one. A map and a planned itinerary will do. If the latter, you don't need one.

I drive a lot but mostly local and, when I do go out of town, I print a map, memorize as much as possible, then refer to it (after I pull over of course) when I am not sure. This has worked for me since the mid Sixties. Lately though, I can always pull out my cell phone and call.

I used one for about 6 months when I moved down to Atlanta from Central Wisconsin for work. I just couldn't see myself unfolding a map while driving on 285 at 75 miles an hour. After 6 months I pulled it out of the car because I didn't need it anymore. I still use my Android GPS when I need to find an address I haven't been to before but I always look for landmarks en route.

James - yeah, that pretty much IS the definition of lazy. Inputting a lot of addresses doesnt = effort. Not when the idea is to prevent yourself from having to think.

I get the impression you may have ADD as well. Reading maps isnt hard, even while trying to locate a street...especially if you can remember a name of a street for longer than 5 secs.

If this whole notion that people using GPS today are getting stupid was true, then that would mean that our entire armed forces, aviation industry, space industry, etc.... must be total idiots by now. After all, this is where we got the technology from.

I'm actually more concerned about some of the PhDs who give credibility to this kind of study. We develop our abilities to navigate through simple path early on in our lifes, we learn to recognize cues that tell us about our surroundings. Our spatial recognition abilities are not being diminished by the use of a GPS, if anything it is expanded due to our ability to embark on new journeys without fearing to get lost. Try that with a paper MAP, and I mean a map of a unknown location.

People have no trouble finding their way around a Mall or a SuperStore, they know how to get around their own neighborhood. If our Spacial Recognition abilities were that threatened, none of us would be able to start a new job anywhere, GPS or no GPS.

A GPS is a tool like any other. It just happened to be faster at locating information than most people are. Sailors of the past would maintain their direction using the stars and the sun with the aid of a sextan; it would also take them months to get from point A to Point B.

I travel using a GPS whenever I need to locate an adress that I've never traveled to, or if I've wandered off my normal path. But once I know where I am, I don't need to rely on the GPS. If anything, ever since I started using a GPS, my spacial understanding of the West Coast is much keener, and if I also include my ability to use one of the online satellite mapping technology, I have a much broader understanding of the coast as a whole and where things are situated. So all in all, I've expanded my cognitive abilities from the use of Online mapping and GPS technologies.

My mom or my boyfriend on the other hand have a hard time figuring out their way out of a potato sac, this is why they use a GPS; however, it's not because they use a GPS that they can figure out their way around. Some of us are better at it than others, and it's always been that way. If we all had always been good at it, then everyone would have been able to find the New World, or the Spice Roads.

I think that it's the idiots who can't read a map in the first place that get a GPS. They never 'used' this part of their brain in the first place.... My mother is a perfect example of this.

I remember an incident a couple of years ago when my mother was taking me to an airport in an area she wasn't completely familiar with. Her Tom Tom's maps were wrong and took us to a residential street near the airport instead of to the airport. Even though you could see the airport from where we were, she was completely paralyzed.

The article was very interesting to me because I think it helps explain lots of things with the brain, far beyond the use of a GPS, dealing with a willingness/desire to learn/experience new things vs. aging vs. dumbing yourself down through lack of exercising your brain. With my mother, I have noticed some other things that give me reason for concern, I will watch closer now from a little different perspective. But I won't call her an idiot.

Personally am very spatially oriented. I never need or use a GPS when I am in an area I know. In the U.S., about the only place I would ever use a GPS would be in a large city I hadn't visited much where roads weren't well organized or to find a landmark through GPS coordinates in the middle of nowhere.

When I am in the woods and find a perfect fishing hole or some seasonal plant that I want to be able to find again in later years, I will lock in that site on the GPS so I can find it again. I became a believer in GPS technology about ten years ago, I was living in Korea in the middle of a big city full of twisting, poorly marked roads in a very difficult to read language. EVERY American I knew was afraid to drive there, advice was to take a taxi. I was selling some stuff to a helicopter pilot from further north who had never been in the city. I was trying very hard to get him driving directions, he just asked for the street address---and painlessly drove straight to my house from out of town. Definitely not an idiot.

Currently live in Europe. Over the last several years, I have routinely driven to remote parts of many different countries, with many different languages spoken. While doing train travel, after getting off the train in a country I have never visited where I don't know the language I can walk straight to my hotel, or wander wherever I choose in the city and know I will easily get back to my room, without fear of getting lost. Without a GPS I could not have seen 10% of what I have been able to see. I don't need to know ten different languages, I don't need to study for weeks or months before deciding to go somewhere-- I just get to go. I don't think I am an idiot.

95% of the time, my GPS just sits in the glove compartment. But that 5% of the time it is needed, it is a very valuable tool, worth every penny of the 300 dollars I paid for it. I would have a fraction of my experiences and memories if I had not had one. Ooops, I guess I am not supposed to have memories, I got a GPS, so I am supposed to be an idiot.

I think that it's the idiots who can't read a map in the first place that get a GPS. They never 'used' this part of their brain in the first place.... My mother is a perfect example of this.

It's good that you think your own mother is an idiot. You know what they say about the apple and the tree...

BTW, pretty much everyone who isn't still using a caveman-style cell phone has GPS.

BTW, pretty much everyone who isn't still using a caveman-style cell phone has GPS.

People who use cell phones are just too stupid and lazy to send smoke signals.

Whenwill they teach the "GPS" to drive? so I can sit in the back seat and enjoy the trip?

Three studies by McGill University researchers presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on Sunday show that the way we navigate the world today may indeed affect just how well our brains function as we age — particularly the hippocampus, which is linked to memory.

Well a TBI - Traumatic Brain Injury already took its toll on my short term memory but, the GPS gets me home after errands.... Smile :-)

I do service work, at the customer's location, and I cover most of the Los Angeles Basin ( an area larger than the state of Delaware ) and have never used a GPS. I use paper maps(!) to lay out my route before I leave the shop. Very rarely do I get lost and when I do, I pull over check my paper map and in a couple of minutes I'm back on route.

A neighbor's GPS tried to take him over Angel's Crest Highway that was closed at the time and would have cost him a minimum of 2 hours lost and a possibility of backing down a mile or more to find a place to turn around. Luckily, he knew the road was closed and was able ( with some difficulty ) to find a way around.

Christopher Columbus didn't need GPS and neither do I ! ! !

What about computer spell checkers?

What about internet browsers?

I don't have to go to the library anymore... don't have to retain as much information because it's at your fingertips.

Old Fart, why is a printed map (which someone else compiled) is an acceptable level of technology, but a GPS is not? Christopher Columbus didn't have Rand McNally to give him directions, but you seem to accept that as OK. I'm also wondering how a printed map would have given your friend a warning about the highway closure.

I don't have a GPS, either, but mostly because I've lived in my area for 15 years and know where everything is. When I go on vacation, though, it's a great thing to have, since those are directions you don't need to retain.

To Mark :

Interpretation : LAZY

I quit using spell checker. It told me that correctly spelled words were wrong or incorrect words were correct. It doesn't know the difference between cue and queue or between your and you're or sight and site, ad infinitum.

I keep a dictionary and a thesaurus at hand and I USE THEM ! ! !

Rarely do I look up a word without finding a new or forgotten word(s).

Mark - to some degree you are right, I bet there is a drop off in peoples intelligence by using short cuts like the computer to ask questions and it just gives you the answers...versus searching volumes of books for hours on ends...and using spell checker, instead of a dictionary.

But this article is about memory, and when someone is telling you where to go (either inthe form of a passenger, or GPS) you're less likely to retain that information. However, reading is still reading...isnt it? So if i read it in a book I finally find, or I read it online...im still reading, and hopefully retaining in the same way.

I can tell you, its different when someone gives you directions that you write down and then follow, versus someone inyour passgenger seat saying "ok, turn here"...and all you have to really do is turn, not think.

Dan - because the map DOESN'T TELL YOU WHERE TO GO. The GPS can if you have it feeding you directions. Now if you're just using it soley for the maps it contains, then yes that's not much different than using a paper map (other than the fact that you can have the GPS tell you where you are at on the map).

Jessica--

I do research for a living. There is a qualitative difference between what you pick up seeking a targeted piece of information using the computer, and what you pick up browsing. When browsing you pass over tons of information, which if you have a good memory, can come in handy.

I also notice a big difference in the way I have assimilated facts, and the way I recall things vs. the way my major professor does. Of course part of it is that I've had to play catch up to his level, where he pioneered a few things and has gotten there over time. However, I have a few things on him in my ability to get needed information quickly, or having usable access to state of the art methods.

Who knows, but technology is changing the way people do things.

Taken to another level... the vast preponderance of people are screwed without technology.

Is the story stupid, or are you just bitter?

GPS = Getting People Stupid

Actually, the story is as legitimate as any. See, you read it and commented on it so there must be some validity.

Same, but usually if it's somewhere local I'll just look up directions on Google maps and resort to GPS only if I get lost. If it's somewhere out of state then I'll definitely us GPS to get me there, after reviewing a real map to make sure the dang thing isn't going to get me lost in the middle of nowhere.

City folks? Maybe just folks who are not local , whether they are from the city or the country.

So far the statistics have been proving out...

Usually drivers from the country, particularly truck drivers who do it for a living, know better than to take off on on an unknown road in very rural settings. City folks tend to not realize that everything is not paved w/cell towers nearby and that there are places you can get stuck where it might be a very long time before someone arrives who can help you out.

Amen to that. Some of my best memories have been from getting lost. If I ever get a GPS, it will be for emergencies only.

What's really weird is that once I drive from one particular place to another, no matter the distance or route, I know it. Most people I know have this capability. Maybe it's innate, I don't know, but it's there. A GPS would only confuse me and I am not a digiphobe and never have been. I love technology when I need it.

If I drive it by self w/o help, never forget it. W/GPS, as a passenger, based on a passenger telling me when and how to turn, minimal retention.

Also love to get lost, if have lots of time. Some of best memories are of places discovered that way. However, if you are on foot in the middle of a city where everyone speaks a different language, in the middle of a high crime area, or want to find that amazing restaurant that eveyone talks about, having the GPS is a godsend.

As long as the unit isn't made by Atmos, I think we will be OK.

tha-So glad to hear that someone uses a method similar to mine. I google my destination then check it out on a map. I have lived in the Alexandria, VA, DC area for three years and have learned my way around this congested area fairly well...

My grown up children make fun of me for not using a GPS but I wonder if teenagers today can read maps??

Same here, but as a paper carrier, I have always used map books for the cities and know things, such as even numbers are on the east side of the street and odd on the west (least in my area). I too draw out maps when I am going someplace new if I don't have a book for that area. You just need a quick map with the pertinent information there. Few seconds of work and it didn't cost me anything.

Also, the power does not go out on my map. What do these people do when their power goes out or it breaks? They are stuck and screwed lol. Sorry, but eventually, all technology breaks, they make it that way.

One last major thing! I read recently, how cool it is the scientists have proof that our continental plate is shifting. They know this, because the GPS coordinates slowly move. I believe it was something like a centimeter a year or something. And other continental plates might move quicker... I can see this becoming a problem unless the service constantly keeps everything updated. The GPS gets its coordinates from the whole earth and uses the latitude and longitude marks I think? That means that when the earth's crust moves, peoples little saved dots of some landmark or special place and every address in the whole database... will move to a different longitudinal and latitudinal mark too.

Like any other tool. Use it wisely and thoroughly understand it's limitations and benefits, is great stuff. Too much dependence and if everything goes to he**, you are in a world of hurt.

Same as Internet and all the other newer technology, especially w/our kids. If you learn the 3 R's, then use technology to make these things more efficient, no problem and you can save loads of time that can be used to do higher level or other more productive things. If you don't get the basics down, the minute the technology fails because the satellite fell out of the sky or because your batteries went dead, you are in a world of hurt.

I thought the article was great in the same way, it made some sense in explaining the driving part and GPS's, but helps a lot of other things possibly make sense also about how our brain works.

Similar to Language, in that if we don't learn new languages when young, it is very difficult and we do it a different way when older.

Similar to people w/political views who seem to be just stubborn in not being willing to listen to others ideas after they have spent a certain amount of time w/one orientation.

Similar to all the older people I have known who tend to be much more set in their ways and patterns, and more likely to "be lost" with new or unexpected things.

Similar to the pattern of the young tending to be more liberal, the older more conservative, where it has been explained in the past that the "hard knocks" of life made the young less idealistic, more practical...when in reality it looks to me like people as they age tend to be able to explore new options, new possibilities.

It looks to me like the brain tries it's darnedest to "hard code" what works in life. Working the brain in various parts then is no different than exercise. By continuing to travel a lot, go to school, work in a particular field, or whatever, that part of the brain is remains active and is able to continue to grow.

I am thinking this is BOTH a function of aging and necessity. Aging, because as we get older, the brain ages slowly begins to degenerate, it is kept "younger" through continuous use, just lke our muscles. Necessity, because all of us from birth are continuously bombarded with an almost infinitie amount of stimuli and information, we can not take all of it in and analyze it, our brains must selectively choose what is relevent. If we have a tool that shows the route, our brains don't need to actively think spatially, our skill will decrease quickly. No different than being in the same area and driving the same route every day, though, in that as you repeat the same thing every day, you pay less and less attention to all the "spatial" stuff, more and more to a memorized "go 1.2 miles straight, then turn right for one block"-the same thing a GPS does.

I think that if you look at our youth and think about how quickly our world changes these days in every way, there are very big implications to how we as humans are evolving. The rapid and continuous changes force our brains to exercise and adapt continuously, which helps keeps the brain young--makes it smarter. On the other hand, since we can't utilize all the info that comes in, other historically important abilities are lost through disuse. As long as all these technological systems we are building don't fail us, we are allowing our brains to move on to other things that could not have been done without the technology. However, if those systems fail, we are in a world of hurt, because we no longer have the ability to do those things that were required for basic survival just a generation or two ago.

Amen to that! I quit using speed dial and only have new or infrequently called numbers in my phones memory. I realized I was forgetting phone numbers I'd known for 30 years when I used auto dial. Technology will indeed dumb us down if we let it!

I agree. Another example - calculators and math in your head. How about googling? Rather than know things from memory, who cares? I'll just google it! As my brain slowly turns to mush...

I have a love hate relationship with my GPS. I love how I can get places so easily for the first time, but hate how I feel almost enslaved by it.

If it erodes your brain, why don't those who use a cab everyday to get where they're going have the same problem. In New York, people use them to go everwhere. I don't believe this!

I don't know about that generalization you made. There are plenty of men that are lost all the time and plenty of women that know where they are going. As a man there is only one thing that I would generalize about men being better than women at and that is getting ready faster.

I don't use GPS because I don't like being told where to go. Also everyone knows that miles on interstates are counted from West to East and South to North therefore there is no need for gps.

Shame on you for using stereotyping! I'm the mapuser in our family--I plan the trips, the stops, and the routes we'll use. We find our way and seldom are lost-but it's a learning experience if we do lose our way. No doublt about it; Americans are being dumbed down by wanting shortcuts where they don't have to think. This is not only true of technology, but of choosing our politicians from what is viewed on television--one has to work a little to find the true character of a candidate.

Sorry it is not a stereotype but rather as reality. There are profound differences in the male and female brains. You can do the research and of course this applies to he sex as a while not individuals. There are many men that should have been women and also the other way around!!

http://www.cerebromente.org.br/n11/mente/eisntein/cerebro-homens.html

My now, ex-wife told me where to go plenty of times ! I don't want to replace her with a machine ( although that would be an improvement ).

I had to get one for my wife because with her sense of direction, if she entered a telephone booth with 2 door's, upon exiting she would be confused as to which door to exit out of without feeling lost.

Well, that isn't entirely true... I am in Real Estate and I used to do it old school with maps etc but the GPS does make it quicker and easier to find a property that I will only go to once. That being said, I know my area so well most of the time I already have a general idea of where I am going anyway and I usually take a better route than GPS suggests. I just use it to pinpoint the exact location.

Really! Stupid and lazy. You must be someone who is not wise enough to figure the device out. You enjoy going to the library and sorting through the catalog cards. The rest of have more important things to do. Also, I find it very safe to be glaring at a map trying to figure ones way while driving. Mine as well be texting!!!

Or proofreading one's posts.

Nope, because all those me-first people will still cause traffic jams at freeway/interstate construction projects that require traffic to merge into one lane. If everyone merged into the open lane when they see the signs, traffic would flow right through. Gps won't cure that!

Oh dear there is GPS on my phone!!!! I don't know if you're trying to be funny with the government tracking you on GPS but I find it funny. But if I ever do anything bad I'll have to be careful to make my escape without the aid of a GPS or my cellular phone.

It won't be funny once Big Brother replaces gasoline taxes with mileage taxes and requires everyone to have a GPS device in their cars.

Won't bother me. I don't own a car.

It wouldn't suprise me if every new car has a tracking device installed at the factory, every GM has onstar installed at the factory, which can be turned on at any time from a remote location.

At least there was someone that read the entire article. Good going Tommy and I am glad to see one of the website's admids making corrections. Gotta love newsvine.

must be that big block of steel between your ears acting as a magnet.