Sense of direction may be innate

WORLD SCIENCE

The re­search­ers were not only able to see that the rats had work­ing naviga­t­ional neu­rons from the be­gin­ning, but they were al­so able to see the or­der in which the cells ma­tured.

The first to ma­ture were head di­rec­tion cells, the group found. These neu­rons tell the an­i­mal which di­rec­tion it is head­ing, and are thought to ena­ble an in­ter­nal inertia-based naviga­t­ion sys­tem, like a com­pass. “These cells were al­most adult-like right from the be­gin­ning,” Langs­ton said.

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