#mentalmaps — Public Fediverse posts

Taxi Drivers Rarely Die Of Alzheimer’s – How Complex Mental Maps And Spatial Reasoning Protect Your Brain [why knowing your way around might help you stay sharp]
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https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650 <-- shared technical article
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https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082194 <-- shared paper
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https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597 <-- shared paper
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-018-0031-x <-- shared paper
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https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/licensing/learn-the-knowledge-of-london <-- details of @Transport for London’s ‘The Knowledge’ details
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https://youtu.be/u7gp8KBP7ak?si=X1xXcysZF2LayFkx <-- shared video, ‘The People Who Have To Remember 25,000 Streets | The [London] Knowledge - The World's Toughest Taxi Test’
--
H/T @ Jennifer Psillas, GISP | GIS Project Manager at City of Tucson Parks and Recreation
“Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S…
Of the 9 million death certificates from January 2020 to December 2022 that researchers examined, taxi and ambulance drivers had the lowest risk of dying from Alzheimer’s disease out of 443 occupations. After adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity and education, roughly 1 in 100 taxi and ambulance drivers died of Alzheimer’s, compared with 1 in 60 people overall.
This pattern did not extend to other driving jobs. The researchers concluded that the key to reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s was not driving itself but continuous real-time navigation: the constant work of locating yourself in space, tracking a destination and updating a mental map as conditions change. Drivers whose jobs relied on fixed or predetermined routes, like bus drivers and aircraft pilots, didn’t seem to experience a similar advantage.
Researchers believe the association between navigation-heavy work and lower Alzheimer’s risk centers on the hippocampus, a part of the brain that governs memory and spatial navigation. It’s one of the first brain regions that Alzheimer’s damages: Problems with spatial navigation and orientation are among the earliest signs of the disease, sometimes surfacing before obvious memory loss.
In one landmark 2000 study [link above], neuroscientists compared the brains of licensed London taxi drivers with those of people who did not drive cabs. Their findings provided the first evidence via structural imaging that regions of the adult brain can measurably change under sustained navigational demand. To earn a license, London cabbies must memorize more than 25,000 streets within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross, a challenge known as “The Knowledge” that takes three to four years…”
#spatialnavigation #orientation #mental #acuity #taxi #ambulance #paramedic #TheKnowledge #London #UK #Alzheimer #mapping #mentalmaps #spatialmapping #navigation #spatialreasoning #brain #hippocampus #brainhealth #death #mortality #disease #publichealth #scans #occupation #job

Taxi Drivers Rarely Die Of Alzheimer’s – How Complex Mental Maps And Spatial Reasoning Protect Your Brain [why knowing your way around might help you stay sharp]
--
https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650 <-- shared technical article
--
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2024-082194 <-- shared paper
--
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.070039597 <-- shared paper
--
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-018-0031-x <-- shared paper
--
https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/taxis-and-private-hire/licensing/learn-the-knowledge-of-london <-- details of @Transport for London’s ‘The Knowledge’ details
--
https://youtu.be/u7gp8KBP7ak?si=X1xXcysZF2LayFkx <-- shared video, ‘The People Who Have To Remember 25,000 Streets | The [London] Knowledge - The World's Toughest Taxi Test’
--
H/T @ Jennifer Psillas, GISP | GIS Project Manager at City of Tucson Parks and Recreation
“Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer’s disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S…
Of the 9 million death certificates from January 2020 to December 2022 that researchers examined, taxi and ambulance drivers had the lowest risk of dying from Alzheimer’s disease out of 443 occupations. After adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity and education, roughly 1 in 100 taxi and ambulance drivers died of Alzheimer’s, compared with 1 in 60 people overall.
This pattern did not extend to other driving jobs. The researchers concluded that the key to reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s was not driving itself but continuous real-time navigation: the constant work of locating yourself in space, tracking a destination and updating a mental map as conditions change. Drivers whose jobs relied on fixed or predetermined routes, like bus drivers and aircraft pilots, didn’t seem to experience a similar advantage.
Researchers believe the association between navigation-heavy work and lower Alzheimer’s risk centers on the hippocampus, a part of the brain that governs memory and spatial navigation. It’s one of the first brain regions that Alzheimer’s damages: Problems with spatial navigation and orientation are among the earliest signs of the disease, sometimes surfacing before obvious memory loss.
In one landmark 2000 study [link above], neuroscientists compared the brains of licensed London taxi drivers with those of people who did not drive cabs. Their findings provided the first evidence via structural imaging that regions of the adult brain can measurably change under sustained navigational demand. To earn a license, London cabbies must memorize more than 25,000 streets within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross, a challenge known as “The Knowledge” that takes three to four years…”
#spatialnavigation #orientation #mental #acuity #taxi #ambulance #paramedic #TheKnowledge #London #UK #Alzheimer #mapping #mentalmaps #spatialmapping #navigation #spatialreasoning #brain #hippocampus #brainhealth #death #mortality #disease #publichealth #scans #occupation #job

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer's

https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232253

#HackerNews #TaxiDrivers #BrainHealth #SpatialReasoning #MentalMaps

Taxi drivers rarely die of Alzheimer's

https://theconversation.com/taxi-drivers-rarely-die-of-alzheimers-how-complex-mental-maps-and-spatial-reasoning-protect-your-brain-286650

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232253

#HackerNews #TaxiDrivers #BrainHealth #SpatialReasoning #MentalMaps

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

Software #Developers Say #AI Is Rotting Their Brains

by Emanuel Maiberg, May 13, 2026

Excerpt: "The developers I talked to found AI useful for some tasks. Several developers said that it was good for experimentation, allowing them to quickly prototype an idea or to implement something in a domain they’re unfamiliar with. One developer said it was a good information interface. Specifically, he said, the AI helped him find where on the server a certain request is handled, summarize logs, or find documentation related to code changes.

"The problem all the developers I talked to agreed on is that the more they relied on AI to code, the more the skills they’ve honed for years deteriorated. This is by now a well studied phenomenon sometimes referred to as '#CognitiveDebt' or '#CognitiveAtrophy.' The idea is that people who use AI to automate certain parts of their job lose the ability to do those tasks well, therefore #DeSkilling themselves.

" 'I had some issues where I forgot how to implement a Laravel API and it scared the shit out of me. I went to university for this, I've been a software engineer for many years now and it feels like I am back before I ever wrote a single line of code,' the software developer at a small web design firm told me.

" 'It's making me dumber for sure,' the fintech software developer told me. “It's like when we got #cellphones and stopped remembering phone numbers, but it's grown to me mentally outsourcing ‘thinking’ in general. I feel my critical thinking and ability to sit and reason about a problem or a design has degraded because the all-knowing-dalai-llama is just a question away from giving me his take. And supposedly I tell myself ill just use it for inspiration but it ends up being my only thought. It gives you the illusion of productivity and expertise but at the end of the day you are more divorced from the output you submit than before.'

" 'When I was using it for code generation, I found myself having a lot of trouble building and maintaining a #MentalModel of the code I was working with,' the software engineer at the FAANG told me. 'Another aspect is that I joined late last year and [the company’s] codebase is massive. As a new hire, part of my job is to learn how to navigate the codebase and use the established conventions, but I think the AI push really hampered my ability to do that. '"

Read more:
https://www.404media.co/software-developers-say-ai-is-rotting-their-brains/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/2vjJm

#AISucks #DumbingUsDown #BrainRot #AIBrainRot #MentalMaps #CriticalThinkingSkills #UseYourBrain #UseItOrLoseIt

31-Oct-2024
Echolocating #bats use acoustic #mentalMaps to navigate long distances

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1062745 #science #echolocation

31-Oct-2024
Echolocating #bats use acoustic #mentalMaps to navigate long distances

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1062745 #science #echolocation

How do people rebuild their mental map and sense of place when relocating for work? Explore insights from this study on spatial adaptation and social integration. #CSCW2024 #Migration #SenseOfPlace #MentalMaps https://tinyurl.com/58k623ct-cscw2024

How do people rebuild their mental map and sense of place when relocating for work? Explore insights from this study on spatial adaptation and social integration. #CSCW2024 #Migration #SenseOfPlace #MentalMaps https://tinyurl.com/58k623ct-cscw2024

As heard on #MentalMaps, #radiox:

Alessandro #Cortini is an Italian Musician now living in #Portugal. He used to play bass, guitar and keys at the Nine Inch Nails. #NIN His #Bandcamp is full of great stuff to discover! 📻

🏕️ https://cortini.bandcamp.com

📺 https://youtu.be/mE27ezBt6Nc

#music #drone #darkambient #synth

As heard on #MentalMaps, #radiox:

Alessandro #Cortini is an Italian Musician now living in #Portugal. He used to play bass, guitar and keys at the Nine Inch Nails. #NIN His #Bandcamp is full of great stuff to discover! 📻

🏕️ https://cortini.bandcamp.com

📺 https://youtu.be/mE27ezBt6Nc

#music #drone #darkambient #synth

Auf der #radiox +7 Seite sind von unserer #VirusMusik-Redaktion gerade drei Sendungen zum Nachhören verfügbar. Neben meiner #OFFspace Sendung, noch die aktuellen Ausgaben von #MentalMaps und von #RosarotesLiebeslied. 📻

Und ja, alle drei sind empfehlenswert! 👍

http://www.radiox.de/sendungen/virusmusikradio

#frankfurt #offenbach #localradio #radio #localscene #szenezeigen #lang_de

Auf der #radiox +7 Seite sind von unserer #VirusMusik-Redaktion gerade drei Sendungen zum Nachhören verfügbar. Neben meiner #OFFspace Sendung, noch die aktuellen Ausgaben von #MentalMaps und von #RosarotesLiebeslied. 📻

Und ja, alle drei sind empfehlenswert! 👍

http://www.radiox.de/sendungen/virusmusikradio

#frankfurt #offenbach #localradio #radio #localscene #szenezeigen #lang_de

Comment penser historiquement l'#Atlantique du Nord-Ouest, et la conception qu'en avaient les marins (surtout des pêcheurs) qui, au XVIe siècle, le fréquentaient? Jack BOUCHARD propose d'en explorer les #cartes mentales dans ce très bel article:

➡️ Terra Nova. Cartes mentales de l’Atlantique du Nord-Ouest au XVIe siècle

👉 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annales-histoire-sciences-sociales/article/abs/terra-nova/DB1B68464F9867707709EBD5EC86E8E6
👉 https://www.cairn.info/revue-annales-2023-2-page-297.htm

#histodons #maps #mentalmaps #Canada #TerreNeuve #Newfoundland #Amérique
@histodons

Comment penser historiquement l'#Atlantique du Nord-Ouest, et la conception qu'en avaient les marins (surtout des pêcheurs) qui, au XVIe siècle, le fréquentaient? Jack BOUCHARD propose d'en explorer les #cartes mentales dans ce très bel article:

➡️ Terra Nova. Cartes mentales de l’Atlantique du Nord-Ouest au XVIe siècle

👉 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/annales-histoire-sciences-sociales/article/abs/terra-nova/DB1B68464F9867707709EBD5EC86E8E6
👉 https://www.cairn.info/revue-annales-2023-2-page-297.htm

#histodons #maps #mentalmaps #Canada #TerreNeuve #Newfoundland #Amérique
@histodons

📢New Blogpost!
@sfb1265 subproject "The spatial knowledge of young people" reflect on a collaborative workshop with Berlin highschoolers, in which they developed a Progressive Web Application that allows young people to map their everyday spaces.
#wiskomm #digitalmethods #mapping #mentalmaps #youthstudies
https://sfb1265.de/en/blog/five-days-in-a-berlin-school/

📢New Blogpost!
@sfb1265 subproject "The spatial knowledge of young people" reflect on a collaborative workshop with Berlin highschoolers, in which they developed a Progressive Web Application that allows young people to map their everyday spaces.
#wiskomm #digitalmethods #mapping #mentalmaps #youthstudies
https://sfb1265.de/en/blog/five-days-in-a-berlin-school/

Ich höre gerade die Sendung #MentalMaps vom 15. Februar auf #radiox 91.8 fm, #Frankfurt. In der +7 Mediathek befinden sich übrigens gerade von #VirusMusik neben meiner Sendung mit #StefanX noch eine Folge des Rosaroten Liebesliedes und Konzerttipps mit Frank Dietrich bei #Hörnerv.

http://www.radiox.de/sendungen/virusmusikradio

Ich höre gerade die Sendung #MentalMaps vom 15. Februar auf #radiox 91.8 fm, #Frankfurt. In der +7 Mediathek befinden sich übrigens gerade von #VirusMusik neben meiner Sendung mit #StefanX noch eine Folge des Rosaroten Liebesliedes und Konzerttipps mit Frank Dietrich bei #Hörnerv.

http://www.radiox.de/sendungen/virusmusikradio