Science Explorer Back to mapMap
Discussion
Topic · Automotive Engineering

Spatial Cognition and Navigation

Spatial Cognition and Navigation is a research topic within Automotive Engineering. Science Explorer counts 17k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the importance of spatial ability in STEM domains, focusing on topics such as mental rotation, wayfinding, gender differences in spatial cognition, cognitive maps, and the use of landmarks in navigation. It also delves into the impact of spatial training on mathematics performance and the neural correlates of spatial tasks.

  • Spatial Ability
  • STEM Education
  • Mental Rotation
  • Wayfinding
  • Gender Differences
  • Cognitive Maps
  • Navigation
  • Landmarks
  • Virtual Environment
  • Neuroimaging Studies
Research works
17k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.7k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+19%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Spatial Cognition and Navigation

Which countries lead Spatial Cognition and Navigation research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (709 and 409 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 709 works
  2. 2 China 409 works
  3. 3 Germany 240 works
  4. 4 Indonesia 180 works
  5. 5 Japan 155 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 153 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 123 works
  8. 8 Italy 123 works
  9. 9 Canada 112 works
  10. 10 France 109 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 30.7%China: 17.7%Germany: 10.4%Indonesia: 7.8%6 others listed: 33.5%31%largest
United States709 · 30.7%China409 · 17.7%Germany240 · 10.4%Indonesia180 · 7.8%6 others listed774 · 33.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Spatial Cognition and Navigation research?

By volume in 2022-now, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique publishes the most Spatial Cognition and Navigation research, followed by Beijing Normal University and Georgia Institute of Technology.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 30 works
  2. 2 Beijing Normal UniversityChina 15 works
  3. 3 Georgia Institute of TechnologyUnited States 12 works
  4. 4 Indonesia University of EducationIndonesia 12 works
  5. 5 University College LondonUnited Kingdom 12 works
  6. 6 Texas A&M UniversityUnited States 10 works
  7. 7 Max Planck SocietyGermany 10 works
  8. 8 University of TorontoCanada 10 works
  9. 9 University of PaduaItaly 10 works
  10. 10 Pennsylvania State UniversityUnited States 10 works

Who are the leading researchers in Spatial Cognition and Navigation?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Spatial Cognition and Navigation include Geoffrey E. Hinton, Jost Bruno Jonas and Paul M. Thompson.

  1. 1 Geoffrey E. Hinton Canada 454k citations
  2. 2 Jost Bruno Jonas Germany 350k citations
  3. 3 Paul M. Thompson United States 196k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Spatial Cognition and Navigation?

The most cited paper in Spatial Cognition and Navigation is "Validity of the Trail Making Test as an Indicator of Organic Brain Damage" (Ralph M. Reitan, 1958), with 7,715 citations. Next come "Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire" (6,358) and "Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects" (6,316).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Validity of the Trail Making Test as an Indicator of Organic Brain Damage Ralph M. Reitan · Perceptual and Motor Skills Dec 1958 7,715
2 Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire Bob G. Witmer, Michael Jay Singer · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality Jun 1998 6,358
3 Mental Rotation of Three-Dimensional Objects Roger N. Shepard, Jacqueline Metzler · Science 19 Feb 1971 6,316
4 Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design John Sweller, Jeroen J. G. van Merriënboer, FRED G. W. C. PAAS · Educational Psychology Review Sep 1998 5,786
5 Closed-form solution of absolute orientation using unit quaternions Berthold K. P. Horn · Journal of the Optical Society of America A Apr 1987 4,165
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Spatial Cognition and Navigation research done?

The largest centres of Spatial Cognition and Navigation research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), London (United Kingdom) and Istanbul (Türkiye).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 74 works
  2. 2 TokyoJapan 47 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 36 works
  4. 4 IstanbulTürkiye 33 works
  5. 5 SeoulSouth Korea 32 works
  6. 6 ShanghaiChina 31 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 30 works
  8. 8 TaipeiTaiwan 24 works
  9. 9 NanjingChina 24 works
  10. 10 New YorkUnited States 23 works
See Spatial Cognition and Navigation on the map

Where is the best place to study Spatial Cognition and Navigation?

Among universities, judged by research, Beijing Normal University, University College London and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 19.38%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Cornell UniversityAdam Mickiewicz Univ…University College L…Beijing Normal Unive…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Beijing Normal UniversityChina 80.118.0%6.0×14 +91.0%
2University College LondonUnited Kingdom 64.619.4%2.4×12 -26.8%
3Adam Mickiewicz University in PoznańPoland 60.819.9%7.7×10 +56.7%
4Cornell UniversityUnited States 59.923.8%2.1×9 +142.4%
5Texas A&M UniversityUnited States 59.519.3%4.0×10 +56.6%
6Georgia Institute of TechnologyUnited States 56.113.0%6.4×12 -4.0%
7University of ZurichSwitzerland 54.724.1%4.1×9 -3.1%
8University of FloridaUnited States 45.719.6%2.8×9 +5.7%
9University of TorontoCanada 44.420.1%1.5×10 -31.2%
10ETH ZurichSwitzerland 44.416.6%4.1×9 -30.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Spatial Cognition and Navigation, country by country

Is Spatial Cognition and Navigation research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 19% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Spatial Cognition and Navigation.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Spatial Cognition and Navigation as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.013% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Spatial Cognition and Navigation0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Spatial Cognition and Navigation over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Spatial Cognition and Navigation10.1% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

Ask a question or share a note about Spatial Cognition and Navigation. Posts are plain text and can be reported.