Satnav 'switches off' your brain so you never learn

It has long been suspected that using satnavs can make drivers abandon their senses and do silly things. The persuasive voice of the satnav has led to countless cases of big lorries stuck in narrow country lanes, or motorists who have ignored their own eyes and driven into rivers or the sea. Now research has shown that when we use the handy devices, it'switches off' the parts of our brain we normally use to navigate. But don't panic if you're a Google Maps junkie - although your brain might be in sleep mode now, using real maps will wake it up again. UCL researchers studied the brains of 24 volunteers.