Figure 1: Differences and similarities between navigation and memory.

A. Different everyday tasks place different levels of demand on memory and navigation. Estimating distance from a beacon or integrating idiothetic (body-cues) and visual landmarks while walking involves little demand on memory but high demands on navigation skill. On the other end of the spectrum, verbal free recall places little demand on navigation skills but heavy demand on episodic and semantic memory, particularly temporal order.

B. Venn diagram of navigation and memory. There are areas of intersection involving navigation and memory, such as wayfinding, which typically involves remembering paths, and their geometry, and using these to find short cuts. Wayfinding thus involves relatively equal demands on memory and navigation. In contrast, there are many forms of navigation and memory that involve little overlap, consistent with the examples shown in A.