Zoe Cronin, our first year PhD student at SCANN lab was recently interviewed by Dallas Morning News where she discusses a condition known as aphantasia and its relationship to spatial cognition.
Read more on this here: www.msn.com/en-us/money/...
Individuals with aphantasia have difficulty forming mental imagery, and with her future research, Zoe aims to develop more inclusive methods for teaching complex concepts to students.
They emphasize the importance of open science, standardizing navigation assessment methods, and focusing more on real-world challenges in navigation, particularly those experienced by older adults.
A recent book on navigation, “Challenges in Navigation Research”, includes a final chapter that was co-authored by Dr. Weisberg. In that chapter, the authors propose a framework for future research in the field.
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...
Excited to announce our new paper in Trends in Cognitive Science (TICS) on the importance of naturalistic body movements and mobile immersive virtual reality to the study of cognition! Check it out!
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
This book has just been published, open access, edited by Ken Cheng and me. It contains multiple chapters originating in a wonderful Strungmann Forum held in Frankfurt around a year ago.
link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
In their study, Koc et al. looked at how scene selective brain regions (PPA, OPA, RSC) change their activity depending on behavioral goals.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
They showed that contextual changes (such as adding novel wall, ceiling and floor colors and textures) led to greater overestimation of distance judgments, followed by global geometric changes, while local geometric changes had weaker effects.
1st year PhD student Zoe Cronin presents a project proposal relating spatial navigation and aphantasia:
Spatial Navigation and Representations of Spatial Information in Visual Aphantasia
5th year PhD student Ashish Sahoo (with Arne Ekstrom @adekstreme.bsky.social):
A Meta-Analysis of Age-related Differences in Hippocampal Size and Navigation and Memory Abilities
We’re excited to share that members of the SCANN Lab will be presenting two posters (as part of the Sketchpad Series!) at #CNS2026!
Previews are below and here: scannlab.org/cns-2026
Drop by and say hello if you’re at CNS!
#CognitiveNeuroscience #SpatialNavigation #Aging #Memory #Aphantasia
From @stevenmweisberg.bsky.social's lab:
Deep learning approaches to map individual differences in macroscopic neural structure with variations in spatial navigation behavior
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Our paper (with Ashish Sahoo, who is on the job market for post-docs!), now published in Neuropsychologia, used AI approaches to relate navigation ability to hippocampal structure. Did it work?
News coverage: www.uta.edu/news/news-re...
Publication: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41443585/
Dr. Weisberg just went on his first professional podcast! Tune in to hear about how people navigate, why GPS can help OR hurt, and what aging teaches us about flexibility and strategy.
Give it a listen!
open.spotify.com/episode/0Z5o...
And reach out! We'd love to hear what you think.
Yes, that makes sense. I think this method could be used to establish “proximity” between places as well but would have to dig into the method more.
I have loads more questions but should probably read the paper in more depth first! 🤣
Congrats on the work!
Awesome paper! Any thoughts on using this to see how spatial contexts might get linked to build larger scale spatial representations?
Very cool study!!
Do you think neural reliability provides a measure of how “place-like” a spatial context is? How coherent it is, distinctive?
This study shows leisure activities support domain-specific protection against cognitive decline in visual attention and memory beyond job type & education. Given the role of these processes in spatial navigation, such activities might preserve navigational abilities with aging.
New findings suggest memory framing effects are more complex than previously thought and may not require emotional arousal:
psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?d...
Ece Yuksel presented her poster “Age differences in spatial navigation across real and virtual worlds: A mixed-methods approach” at Psychonomic Society 2025, for which she was awarded the Graduate Travel Award. See all SCANN Lab Psychonomic posters here: scannlab.org/psynom-2025
4 smiling people in a wintry icicle like landscape
We are now spread across three institutions, but the SCANN LAN is now reunited at @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social
@eceyuksel.bsky.social @adamjbarnas.com @chengsiy.bsky.social
Postcard with information about three presenters from the SCANN Lab and information about their poster session. More information in the subsequent posts about each one.
The SCANN Lab will be at @psychonomicsociety.bsky.social this week (except for @stevenmweisberg.bsky.social - he's stuck in Texas.)
If you're there, connect with our awesome PhD students!
And if you're NOT there, you can still follow our work. www.scannlab.org/psynom-2025
We are excited to announce that Dr. Steven Weisberg, was recently featured in The Dallas Morning News!
Read the full article here:
www.dallasnews.com/news/2025/10...
I hope to be! 🤞!
🎓 PhD Opening
Join our NSF project on immersive, multi-user virtual field trips for STEM learning + spatial communication.
UT Arlington • 2-yr funded • Fall 2026
🔗 NSF #2336507 → www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/...
🔗 SCANN Lab → www.scannlab.org/join-us
#PhDposition #STEMeducation #VirtualReality #NSF
Hi! Official job ad posted here - for full consideration, please apply: apply.interfolio.com/175152
Hi! Official job ad posted here - for full consideration, please apply: apply.interfolio.com/175152
Flyer detailing information about the position, compensation, and requirements. If you need alt-text details to apply for this position, please email Steven Weisberg at steven dot weisberg @ uta dot edu for more information! We'd love to have you on board :)
🚨The SCANN Lab @ UTA is hiring a postdoctoral researcher!🚨
Topics: 🧭 spatial navigation, 🧠 fMRI, 🎮 VR, 👵 cognitive aging.
Start date: Nov 2025 (flexible).
Salary: NIH levels.
Details 👇
