Topographical disorientation is the impairment or inability to successfully navigate in three-dimensional space. Differing topographical disorientation syndromes have been associated with distinct lesion sites in the acquired brain injury (ABI) literature. This meta-analysis attempted to investigate the relationship between lesion location and dysfunctions in specific navigational abilities resulting in topographical disorientation in individuals with ABI, as measured by their performance on experimental and neuropsychological tests. It was expected that focal lesions would be associated with a specific navigational deficit in one ability, with relative sparing of other navigational abilities. Twenty-six papers met the inclusion criteria for the analysis. Results indicated that ABI populations performed worse on all measures of navigation, with moderate to large effect sizes. Dysfunctions in three core navigational skills were consistent with the available lesion studies: a feature/landmark processing unit, a spatial processing unit, and a spatial/feature binding and associative learning unit. A sequential processing model was created to attempt to best represent the transfer of information between these units and the process by which navigational knowledge is generated. The model was then used to assess the validity of existing models of navigation and topographical disorientation.
Keywords: Topographical disorientation; acquired brain injury; human navigation; meta-analysis.