I've booked my trip to Halifax (late May) to visit with Ken Hill, a psychologist at the St. Mary's University who researches lost-person behavior.
The quick story on Prof. Hill is that he started into this particular line of inquiry back in 1986 after volunteering in the search for a 9-year old boy who'd become lost in the Nova Scotia wilderness. After more than a week, they found the boy's body less than 3 kilometers from where he'd last been seen. So, Hill dedicated his research to making search-and-rescue more than just about covering as much ground as possible--coordinating search around probabilities based on behavior predictions that differ depending on who is lost--a 6 year old, a hunter, a bird watcher, an elderly person, etc.
Of course, there's a bit of Heisenberg uncertainty when trying to "study" lost person behavior. Hill can only get so close to his subject, and one of his tactics is to get subjects lost in the maze-like path system of a local park in Halifax. He's promised to get me lost, there, too.
Quick note: Nova Scotia (specifically its swampy wilderness areas) was dubbed the "Lost Person Capital of North America" by Canadian Geographic Magazine.
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Hello Chris,
ReplyDeleteI found your info via gettinglost.ca. I am a 37 year old woman with what I have just learned is topographical agnosia. Somehow, amazingly, I have developed coping skills and crutches that have enabled me to survive, and hide, the fact that I literally get lost in my own neighborhood. I have lived a life of shame because up until very recently, I didn’t know my condition had a name. I only discovered it because my 15 year old daughter has Asperger’s Syndrome, and in reading some literature related to her condition, I found that the lack of spatial understanding and inability to navigate are often seen in people with AS. Funny thing is, she is my back seat navigator! :-) So now I am trying to learn all that I can about my brain’s inability to get me out of a paper bag.
To give you an idea of my level of inability: I drive the same route to work every day, because it’s the only way I know. If a road is closed or there is a detour for any reason, I will turn my car around in the middle of the road and go home and call in sick. I walk the same route around my neighborhood every day. Once I decided to take the street that runs parallel to mine and wandered around for an hour!
I plan to spend some time reading your links here. Thank you for putting together such a great blog!
Thanks, Jennifer. I've talked to several people in your situation (all through Giueseppi Iaria's work. Let me know if you end up joining that research effort. I'll be following it.
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