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·June 6, 2025·7 min read

Brain Area Stores and Resolves Hypotheses for Landmark Ambiguity

Researchers have discovered that the mouse brain can simultaneously encode multiple hypotheses about its spatial location while navigating environments with ambiguous landmarks. In a complex task requiring mice to distinguish between identical cues, neurons in the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) exhibited distinct activity patterns reflecting different possibilities of where the mouse might be.

This shows a child navigating a virtual city and a brain.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 11, 2025·9 min read

Five-Year-Olds Can Navigate Maps Using Adultlike Brain Systems

New research shows that the brain region supporting map-based navigation is active in children as young as five years old. Using a child-friendly virtual environment called Tiny Town, researchers demonstrated that young children can build and mentally hold maps to guide navigation.

Featured Neuroscience

·December 10, 2024·7 min read

How Sleep Shapes Our Brain’s Mental Navigational Maps

A new study reveals how the brain forms cohesive mental maps of spaces and highlights the critical role of sleep in this process. While "place cells" in the hippocampus mark specific locations, weaker spatial cells stitch these points into a comprehensive cognitive map.

This shows a woman looking at a brain model.

Featured Neuroscience

·November 15, 2024·4 min read

Brain Circuits for Spatial Memory and Navigation Identified

Researchers have identified two neural circuits in the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) that are critical for spatial navigation and memory storage. The M2-projecting pathway links spatial thought to action, while the AD-projecting pathway supports location-specific memory.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 31, 2024·5 min read

Echolocation Map Helps Bats Navigate Kilometers in the Dark

Researchers have shown that echolocating bats use an acoustic map of their environment to navigate long distances, even after being displaced. In a study on Kuhl’s pipistrelle bats, scientists tracked the bats’ return journeys across a three-kilometer radius using echolocation alone.

Featured Neuroscience

·October 3, 2024·5 min read

Fruit Flies’ Small Neuron Network Defies Navigation Theories

Neuroscientists have uncovered how a small network of neurons in fruit flies accurately maintains an internal compass, defying previous theories that required large networks for precision. This new understanding reveals that small networks, when carefully connected, can perform complex tasks like tracking spatial orientation.

This shows an older woman walking in the woods.

Featured Neuroscience Open Neuroscience Articles

·June 11, 2024·5 min read

Age Alters How We Navigate New Environments

Middle-aged adults explore new environments less thoroughly than younger individuals, prioritizing key locations over overall layout. Using virtual reality, the study observed significant differences in exploration and navigation behaviors between age groups.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 20, 2024·4 min read

VR Unveils Brain’s GPS Response to Illusions

Researchers successfully induced illusions of self-location in participants using multi-sensory virtual reality (VR). They observed corresponding changes in the brain's grid cells, which are responsible for spatial navigation. This study is the first to demonstrate that purely cognitive changes in self-location, without physical movement or visual cues, can trigger activity in grid cells.

Featured Neuroscience

·May 6, 2024·3 min read

Researchers Uncover Brain’s Internal Compass

Researchers identified a pattern of brain activity that acts like an internal compass, helping humans navigate through their environment. They used mobile EEG devices and motion capture to track this activity, overcoming the challenge of measuring neural activity in motion.

Featured Neurology Neuroscience

·February 29, 2024·5 min read

Impaired Spatial Navigation May Signal Early Alzheimer’s

Researchers have pioneered a study using virtual reality (VR) to identify early signs of Alzheimer’s disease through impaired spatial navigation in asymptomatic adults at risk. By testing 100 middle-aged adults with genetic, familial, or lifestyle risk factors for Alzheimer's, the study discovered that spatial navigation difficulties in VR environments precede traditional cognitive decline symptoms.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 29, 2024·5 min read

Endocannabinoids Play Role in Spatial Navigation

Researchers made a new discovery about how we navigate our environments, pinpointing a brain cell mechanism crucial for spatial orientation. This research reveals that place cells in the hippocampus, essential for creating mental maps of our surroundings, activate and release endocannabinoids to communicate position information.

Featured Neuroscience

·February 23, 2024·5 min read

Neural Decoding Unveils Secrets of Navigation

A new study combines deep learning with neural activity data from mice to unlock the mystery of how they navigate their environment. By analyzing the firing patterns of "head direction" neurons and "grid cells," researchers can now accurately predict a mouse's location and orientation, shedding light on the complex brain functions involved in navigation.

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navigation

Brain Area Stores and Resolves Hypotheses for Landmark Ambiguity

Five-Year-Olds Can Navigate Maps Using Adultlike Brain Systems

How Sleep Shapes Our Brain’s Mental Navigational Maps

Brain Circuits for Spatial Memory and Navigation Identified

Echolocation Map Helps Bats Navigate Kilometers in the Dark

Fruit Flies’ Small Neuron Network Defies Navigation Theories

Age Alters How We Navigate New Environments

VR Unveils Brain’s GPS Response to Illusions

Researchers Uncover Brain’s Internal Compass

Impaired Spatial Navigation May Signal Early Alzheimer’s

Endocannabinoids Play Role in Spatial Navigation

Neural Decoding Unveils Secrets of Navigation

Death Isn’t the End: AI Brings Lost Voices Back to Life

How the Brain Filters Distractions to Stay Focused on a Goal

Brain Injury Could Explain Sudden Criminal Behavior

Smarter Minds Predict Better: IQ Linked to Sharper Life Forecasting

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