flock of birds flying

Olfactory landmarks and path integration converge to form a cognitive spatial map

This paper on olfactory landmarks is interesting as it covers the idea that the distinctive smell of a place can help navigation by creating a new landmark for helping an animal navigate.

The recognition of a spatial landmark by its sensory features poses a problem for neural circuits. Fischler-Ruiz, et al. show how this problem is solved when mice use odour cues to navigate in the dark. In the hippocampus, path integration imposes spatial meaning on odour cues, thereby creating new landmarks.

Similar Posts

  • Osprey navigation paths

    Intro>> The Rutland  (England) Osprey Project has been running for 18 years when Ospreys began to breed again on Rutland Water in the UK after 150 years. These birds are cared for by the Rutland Osprey Project who have fitted GPS trackers to some of these birds which give very accurate and detailed data of…

  • Universal Consciousness

    On 30th March 2015, Richard Silberstein gave a presentation to the Science Medical Network on “Universal Consciousness”: Mystics of various religious and spiritual traditions have, on occasion, described a mystical realisation as that of the entire universe’s conscious. In this talk, he described some novel parapsychological studies that may shed light on the question of whether consciousness constitutes an…

  • A conceptual framework on the role of magnetic cues in songbird migration ecology

    This paper is difficult to understand but it summarises the work on animal navigation to date.  The key is that all the research which is confident that animals navigate using magnetic cues are not necessarily the whole story and that all navigators use all the clues they can get to help them.  Recently there was…

  • Bar headed goose

    Recent work at Bognor University by a team headed by Charles Bishop has shown they actually follow the contours as they fly from their breeding ground in the high lakes North of the Himalayas south over the Himalayas into the Indian sub continent See wikipedia for images and an overview http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bar-headed_goose This is an interesting…

  • Cuckoo tracking

    The Cuckoo is one of the migrants we know least about once it leaves the UK, however the BTO track, on their amazing site, the movements of five Cuckoos from breeding grounds in East Anglia to their winter quarters in Africa. http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking Cuckoo tracking what we’ve learnt so far: http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/what-have-we-learnt  Latest Cuckoo tracking news: http://www.bto.org/science/migration/tracking-studies/cuckoo-tracking/european-cuckoo-study…