Spatial Memory

Knowing a place includes knowing where things are in relation to one another. A person can reach a familiar room without working out the route again, or explain where a cupboard stands in a home left years before. Spatial memory gives those relationships a role in what is remembered and how a journey is made.

Neuroscience has revealed important aspects of this ability. O'Keefe and Dostrovsky reported cells in a rat's hippocampus that fired in relation to location. Later work on grid cells added another account of spatial representation. Maguire's London taxi-driver research brought extensive navigational experience into a human comparison. The studies help explain why learning and navigating places are serious subjects for investigation.

Architecture can contribute by making places recognisable. Distinct rooms, understandable connections and useful views give occupants information about their position. The route to a destination can be described and checked. These qualities matter especially when someone is learning the building or visiting for the first time.

Over time, occupation supplies further knowledge. People learn where the morning light falls, which room suits a conversation and where they can sit without interruption. Memories become attached to events and people as well as to the setting. A design provides places and relationships capable of being learned; the life within them gives that knowledge its particular meaning.