Different species are equipped in various ways for the recognition of their path of movement. Some use olfactory signals in recognizing paths of varying distance; this is encountered both among social insects such as ants and among many mammals. Certain insect larvae can retrace their path of movement by following extremely fine webs or filaments spun during their advance. Many species also seem to navigate by the Sun. Migratory birds are able to orient themselves by stars in twilight or at night (see migration). Other navigational cues include the effects of gravity, temperature changes, and direct visual observation of landmarks such as rivers.

Developments in aviation and space technology have prompted research efforts to increase understanding of the sensory basis for human navigation in space. Reliable perception of the vertical and horizontal dimensions and preservation of perceptual constancy for these dimensions during flight are based on the parallel activity of vision and balance. Even when flying small aircraft, a pilot becomes disoriented if visual control of the horizontal dimension is lost; there is no way that the human sense of balance can inform a pilot that a wing tip, for example, is dipping dangerously low. This disorientation occurs because the vestibular sense depends primarily on the force of gravity, but the movement of an airplane produces additional forces (centrifugal and centripetal) that easily mislead a person’s vestibular receptors. For this reason, in high-altitude flight the horizontal line of the surface of the Earth is simulated for the pilot by an optical display that works on the same principles as does a television screen.

Even greater demands on the human senses of vision and balance are made in spaceflights, because a person is effectively weightless in outer space. At one laboratory maintained by the U.S. Navy, an enormous, very slowly rotating cylindrical chamber is used to study variations in perceptual sensitivity. Test subjects remain in this simulated “outer space” environment for variable periods (even days at a time) in an effort to anticipate the short-term and long-term effects of interplanetary flight.

Social and interpersonal aspects of space perception

Many animal species that use nests, lairs, or dens and care for their young will typically defend a specific territory. This process is observable in birds and among seals during the breeding season. Apparently this territorial behaviour depends on a rather precise perception of space, because the animal ceases its defensive maneuvers when an interloper passes out of the territory by moving across the “border.” The social distances maintained by primates (such as human beings and apes) are thought to result from territorial groupings. Modern architecture is held to be influenced by a human tendency to divide into small, separate family territories (just as birds do), the result being such structures as apartment houses. Geographic distance may also be maintained to separate individuals who belong to different social groups, as seen in the ethnic neighbourhoods of many cities. Many of these tendencies are summarized in Robert Sommer’s Personal Space (1969), a classic study of human spatial behaviour.