Identifying a compass in the human brain
Researchers used neuroimaging and virtual reality to identify two brain regions that help people maintain their sense of direction while moving around.
2025-08-18
(Press-News.org) Zhengang Lu and Russell Epstein, from the University of Pennsylvania, led a study to explore how people maintain their sense of direction while navigating naturalistic, virtual reality cities.
As reported in their new JNeurosci paper, the researchers collected neuroimaging data while 15 participants performed a taxi driving task in a virtual reality city. Two brain regions represented forward-facing direction as people moved around. This neural signal was consistent across variations of the city with different visual features. The signal was also consistent across different phases of the task (i.e., picking up a passenger versus driving a passenger to their drop-off location) and various locations in the city. Additional analyses suggested that these brain regions represent a broad range of facing directions by keeping track of direction relative to the north–south axis of the environment.
According to the researchers, these findings suggest that these brain regions may serve as a neural compass. Says Epstein, “Losing your sense of direction is something that can happen in neurodegenerative diseases, so continuing to explore the function of these two brain regions may help with early detection or monitoring progression of these diseases. We’re also interested in understanding how people navigate using both visual and internal cues—this would relate to the challenges faced by people with impaired vision.”
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About JNeurosci
JNeurosci was launched in 1981 as a means to communicate the findings of the highest quality neuroscience research to the growing field. Today, the journal remains committed to publishing cutting-edge neuroscience that will have an immediate and lasting scientific impact, while responding to authors' changing publishing needs, representing breadth of the field and diversity in authorship.
About The Society for Neuroscience
The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.
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[Press-News.org] Identifying a compass in the human brain
Researchers used neuroimaging and virtual reality to identify two brain regions that help people maintain their sense of direction while moving around.
