Scientists prove existence of 3D compass in mammalian brains for first time ever

Scientists have recently demonstrated the existence of 3D compass in the brains of mammals for the first time.

Weizmann Institute scientists have shown that the brains of bats contain neurons that sense which way the bat's head is pointed and could therefore support the animal's navigation in 3D space.

The study also revealed for the first time how the brain computes a sense of the vertical direction, integrating it with the horizontal. It turns out that in the neural compass, these directions are computed separately, at different levels of complexity.

The scientists found that head-direction cells in one region of the hippocampal formation became activated in response to the bat's orientation relative to the horizontal surface, which is, facilitating the animal's orientation in two dimensions, whereas cells responding to the vertical component of the bat's movement - that is, a 3D orientation, were located in another region.

The researchers believe that the 2D head-direction cells could serve for locomotion along surfaces, as happens in humans when driving a car, whereas the 3D cells could be important for complex maneuvers in space, such as climbing tree branches or, in the case of humans, moving through multi-story buildings or piloting an aircraft.

This research supports the idea that head-direction cells in the hippocampal formation serve as a 3D neural compass. Though the study was conducted in bats, the scientists believe their findings should also apply to non-flying mammals, including squirrels and monkeys that jump between tree branches, as well as humans.

The study is published in Nature.