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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 11/05/2012 : 05:55:00
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When I was a kid growing up in San Diego, my Dad took me with him in his yearly seasonal deer-hunting expeditions. (I took a course in gun safety so I could hunt as well.) We'd hike all over a wide range of rugged chaparral-covered terrain in eastern San Diego County, often in hot weather. Usually, our small hunting parties would split up into individuals, in order to best attempt to find the sparse populations of tough old bucks in the semiarid terrain. We'd often be a mile or more apart, and out of sight and communication of one another all day long.
One thing I found is that I had a perfect sense of direction, and could always backtrack to return precisely to our camp without conscious effort. I remember that I made no conscious efforts to navigate, but relied entirely on a "feeling" for which direction was correct to travel. (And, in hindsight, if I'd made that conscious effort, any miscalculation might have left me lost.)
Obvious to me now, I was unconsciously navigating by using the Sun's position and the time of day, and memory of how far, and in which directions I'd traveled. One might call it instinctual solar-guided dead reckoning, perhaps.
In later years, I found that this talent disappeared entirely in heavily overcast conditions or at night. I now suspect that when I was hunting, I was simply tapping an instinctual skill bequeathed to me by our early hominid ancestors.
So for a lifetime, I've been accustomed to knowing my directions, a skill that (on a clear day) gives me an advantage in both walking and driving around in a novel terrain, urban or rural. It's also given me an unconscious sense of security that I've never much thought about until I moved to the Philippines.
But no more. At about 16 degrees, 23 minutes north latitude, Baguio City in the Philippines is close enough to the equator to completely screw up my navigational instinct. If this instinct was was evolved in the equatorial or tropical regions of Africa, it must have become modified as (most of) my ancestors settled in Europe. Either that, or the Sun-track part of the instinctual navigational ensemble was wired in my brain during childhood wanderings in mid-latitude Southern California.
A Sun that goes overhead (or nearly overhead) at noon confuses my direction. It's not been a major issue to me here, but I truly do miss having that navigational instinct at my beck and call, due to the loss of my accustomed solar cues.
Good thing I now have GPS!
Have any of you had similar experiences? I wonder, for instance, how a person adapts (or doesn't adapt) their natural navigation when going from the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern, or vice verse.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 11/05/2012 06:12:46
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 15:18:59 [Permalink]
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| Have any of you had similar experiences? |
Having a good sense of direction is not uncommon for those who have it but there are people who never develop one. There might be other influencing factors besides the suns location in the sky. One factor or aid I became aware of for those who live on a continental coastal region is having a sense where the ocean is. Living in California back then you might have been using the fact that the coast is always west. Now you are living on an Island with ocean effectively in all directions. Just about everyone is very likely unable to see that as a factor but I know of two people who can think that. A friend named Lex and myself. Where I grew up on the east coast I always knew which way I was traveling be it North, South, etc. just like you did as a kid. I never knew that one subliminal referencing was as strong of a factor or I was even using it until I moved to California from the east coast. It took me about 2 months to recalibrate that the "ocean" was to the West and not to the East. Until I readjusted my mental image of the "lay of the land" I consistently (as in a lot) found myself driving North or South when I want to be going the opposite way. When I first got to L.A. I was constantly reversing North and South but never East or west. It was really weird because I knew I never had that problem before moving to LA. It took me about 2 months to figure out the "why" my sense of direction was gone after my move. Oddly enough once I figured out what was causing it for me the problem went away. Then 4/5 years later I moved to Ft Lauderdale, Fl. and the problem returned because now the "ocean" was back to my east. I adjusted back to normal quicker the second time. It was very strange to experience it twice, years apart.
The experience got weirder when I told a programmer friend I worked with in Florida. I told him how I had to readjust when I noved to LA and again after moving to Florida and he thought I was crazy or full of it but he only thought it and didn't voice it to me at the time. After some years he moved to Ft Myers, FL., on the gulf coast of Florida. My friend always thought he had an impeccable sense of direction but found he constantly got north and south reversed because he was on the other side of the stated and the direction of the water was reversed. When he had the same experience after his relocation he told me about what he once thought about my experience and was really surprised to have it happen to him when he moved out west. He said he would have never believe it was possible if he hadn't experienced it for himself. However he had the same experience I had having grown up in Miami on east coast and moving across the state to the west coast.
Now I live on an Island and gave up trying to figure which way North is based on water direction. While I'm no Doctor and can't speak about your mental abilities,,, at least your sense of directions, I would think whatever you were using to keep your sense of direction is not available to you there. I would also say if you had simply moved and stayed anywhere on the west coast you would still be able to navigate home from the store. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 18:30:05 [Permalink]
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| I'm pretty good with remembering a route I've already traveled. In all seriousness, I attribute it to video games. Early games didn't have mini-maps so you just had to remember how things were laid out. I got good at remembering the twists and turns of dark, digital dungeons. The ability seems to translate to real life. |
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 21:07:19 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by sailingsoul
[quote]Having a good sense of direction is not uncommon for those who have it but there are people who never develop one. There might be other influencing factors besides the suns location in the sky. One factor or aid I became aware of for those who live on a continental coastal region is having a sense where the ocean is. Living in California back then you might have been using the fact that the coast is always west. Now you are living on an Island with ocean effectively in all directions. . . . |
I hadn't thought about that. Now that you mention it, I do recall always thinking in terms of "oceanward" rather than "north" when living on the West Coast. But I cant think of how I'd sense that direction when out of sight of the ocean except for solar orientation (or maybe through a magnetite brain compass, if humans use their magnetite that way). |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 21:16:23 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by H. Humbert
I'm pretty good with remembering a route I've already traveled. In all seriousness, I attribute it to video games. Early games didn't have mini-maps so you just had to remember how things were laid out. I got good at remembering the twists and turns of dark, digital dungeons. The ability seems to translate to real life. |
That's very cool! Were you learning your way around while playing a game with a first person POV? |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 23:32:28 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
I hadn't thought about that. Now that you mention it, I do recall always thinking in terms of "oceanward" rather than "north" when living on the West Coast. But I cant think of how I'd sense that direction when out of sight of the ocean except for solar orientation (or maybe through a magnetite brain compass, if humans use their magnetite that way).
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That's the thing I never would have thought it was the case. The fact was for about two months every time I got on any freeway that was going North/South like 101, I5, 405, 110. I would figure our whether I needed to go north or South and I always got on going the wrong way and after a while I'd figure out I was going the opposite way I needed to be going and have to get off and turn around. Because I was only getting North/ South reversed my theory of where the water was came to mind. As I mentioned, Lex didn't buy it either until he had the same effect moving from one side of Florida to the other. Having experienced it first hand too he tended to agree with the idea of that being the cause. I'm not saying everyone else would have the same issue but I and one other I know of has. Seeing the water was not required, just knowing which way it was acted as some kind of reference for me. It's only from a data set of two or three if you count it happened to me twice several years apart. It could have been from some other cause but the water direction is the only thing I can see that was different. You asked about any other similar experiences and I gave you a reply. Make of it what you can. I think I'll know how migrating birds will feel when the earths poles flip next time. They are going to do a bit of extra flying until they figure it out like I did. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/05/2012 : 23:33:20 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by H. Humbert
Early games didn't have mini-maps so you just had to remember how things were laid out. |
Some of us took pencil to paper and made our own maps. But playing the games obsessively drilled the maps into our memories, anyway.
Unless the games weren't that good. I recall playing an online US railroad game with such a detailed (text) map that to view it all at once I needed to tape together enough graph paper to make a five-by-three foot map and tacked it to the wall behind my monitor. But within a few calendar weeks, I figured out the trick to making massive amounts of money in the game, which made it so boringly uncompetitive that I quit playing before I'd memorized very much of it. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 08:52:01 [Permalink]
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| I remember that the original Zelda game required maps. Boron10 and I beat the game when he teamed up with me as the map maker. I think that was the last game I played to completion. Or maybe it was Metroid... |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
Genetic Literacy Project |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 12:43:56 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
That's very cool! Were you learning your way around while playing a game with a first person POV?
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Aye, Tomb Raider. 
"Was that a left or a right at the ugly wall carving? Ah, now I remember."
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 11/06/2012 12:48:07 |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 12:46:14 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Some of us took pencil to paper and made our own maps. |
Yeah, some early games would include blank pages in the game manual for such things. But that always seemed like too much work to me.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 12:50:29 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
But I cant think of how I'd sense that direction when out of sight of the ocean except for solar orientation (or maybe through a magnetite brain compass, if humans use their magnetite that way).
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What about wind direction? Doesn't it usually blow in off the ocean? Another potential subtle clue for one's subconscious to process, perhaps.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 11/06/2012 14:18:04 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 17:43:31 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by H. Humbert
Yeah, some early games would include blank pages in the game manual for such things. But that always seemed like too much work to me. |
With games like Dungeon, it was pretty much required, especially in the mazes. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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sailingsoul
SFN Addict
2830 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 18:05:58 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by H. Humbert
What about wind direction? Doesn't it usually blow in off the ocean? Another potential subtle clue for one's subconscious to process, perhaps.
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Not really. Weather, as in traveling high and low pressure areas, in the northern hemisphere usually flows west to east but even that has it's exceptions like with tropical storms and 30 degrees above the equator that is. Closer to the equator there are the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) weather patters which differ from that in the higher latitudes.
Take a low pressure area hitting california. Low pressure zones (cold air) rotates counter clockwise about their centers. So if the center was to pass over you you would first have winds from the south and they would end up out of the north after the center has passed.
As far as I know most places can have wind from any direction over different times and days throughout the year. |
There are only two types of religious people, the deceivers and the deceived. SS |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/06/2012 : 22:22:08 [Permalink]
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| I agree with ss. There are only seasonally prevailing winds here in the tropics (the South-West Monsoons and the North-East Monsoons), and on any given day, even those are not certain. OFfC can speak for the equitorial zone. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 19:00:28 [Permalink]
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| I was an excellent backtracker, both in the woods and on the road. I didn't consciously think much about it; I just did it. Nowadays, I can get confused. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2012 : 23:30:44 [Permalink]
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| A long time ago, I once read an article about how dogs find their way home after running around on their won. The article included a map. The point the article made was that when dogs want to return home, they circle about somewhat randomly until they find a scent they remember from their trip leaving home, then repeat the circling until they find another scent that they recall having smelled earlier in their outward journey. They repeat until they smell home. Not efficient, and certainly not a straight line, but pretty reliable. Kind of an intelligent drunkard's walk. Not much like human orienteering. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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My faultless sense of direction
