Exploring Human Navigation Without Vision

Have you ever walked a familiar path with your eyes closed? It turns out, humans have a fascinating ability to travel from one place to another without seeing or actively thinking about their journey. This skill is called human odometry. Researchers recently reviewed 23 key studies on this topic. They found that most experiments were done with young, healthy adults. Interestingly, how far people think they've walked can be influenced by the length of their steps or the speed of their walk.

The researchers used simple tools to measure distances. They often asked participants to estimate the distance of about 14 meters, giving them a few tries to get it right. On average, the studies were of moderate quality, scoring around 6 out of 10. There are some gaps in the research and variations in how studies were done. Future work could be improved by providing more details.

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