Spatial cognition and navigation

Recent articles

Eleanor Maguire.

Remembering Eleanor Maguire, ‘trailblazer’ of human memory

Maguire, mastermind of the famous London taxi-driver study, broadened the field and championed the importance of spatial representations in memory.

By Calli McMurray
10 January 2025 | 8 min read
Research image of place cells plotted onto a reference zebrafish larva brain.

‘Place cells’ help guide freely swimming zebrafish larvae

The newly found cells function like those in mammals, revealing that spatial cognition evolved earlier than previously thought.

By Shaena Montanari
28 August 2024 | 5 min read
Picture of bees in flight.

Postdoc’s grad-school sleuthing raises questions about bee waggle-dance data

A journal has flagged two papers with expressions of concern, which note a co-author acknowledged errors.

By Shaena Montanari
4 July 2024 | 6 min read

Dancing in the dark: Honeybees use antennae to decode nestmates’ waggles

The insects align their antennae with their body’s angle to a dancer—information that vector-processing circuitry in the brain deciphers into a flight path, a new study suggests.

By Shaena Montanari
3 April 2024 | 0 min watch
Illustrated portrait of Loren Frank.

The value of math and spatial learning with Loren Frank

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator discusses what drew him to study the brain and his current work at the University of California, San Francisco.

By Brady Huggett
1 April 2024 | 62 min listen

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research image showing resting-state functional connectivity in the human red nucleus.

‘Ancient’ brainstem structure evolved beyond basic motor control

The human red nucleus may also help coordinate action, reward and motivated behavior, a new study suggests.

By Sydney Wyatt
16 May 2025 | 5 min read
Seattle skyline.

Reporter’s notebook: Highlights from INSAR 2025

The annual meeting brought autism researchers, advocates and clinicians to Seattle to discuss the latest research, including attempts to define subgroups, a potential new CHD8 macaque model and life expectancy gaps.

By Daisy Yuhas
15 May 2025 | 5 min read
A researcher stands at the top of a staircase that leads to nowhere.

NIDA shutters diversity fellowship program, axes active awards

It’s unclear if the cancellation at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse extends to the fellowships awarded by other institutes within the National Institutes of Health.

By Calli McMurray
14 May 2025 | 4 min read