When it comes to navigating areas, young children are a lot smarter than we give them credit for. Although past studies have proposed that our navigational abilities don’t truly kick in until the age of 12, a new study puts these claims to rest, revealing that children as young as 5 can find their way around large spaces.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, demonstrated the surprising cognitive capacity of five-year-olds as they navigated a tiny virtual town. Aiming to grasp how the brain develops at a young age, the study also showed how science can be introduced to children in a productive and engaging way.
