Rats Don't Map Altitude

Rat neurons only weakly respond as the animals climbed upwards, suggesting the brain's map of the environment doesn't account for altitude.

Written byJef Akst

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WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, DAVID MEDCALF

In rats, neurons in and around the hippocampus— the region of the brain responsible for forming a map of the physical surroundings— only weakly respond to changes in altitude, according to a study published online yesterday (August 7) in Nature Neuroscience. Specifically, as the animals moved upwards along pegs on a climbing wall or up a spiral stair case, grid cells, which measure distance, only kept track of their horizontal movement, and did not appear to encode how high they were. Place cells, which denote location, did respond to changes in altitude, but only slightly.

“The implication is that our internal sense of space is actually rather flat—we are very sensitive to where we are in horizontal space but only vaguely aware of how high ...

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Meet the Author

Jef Akst
Jef (an unusual nickname for Jennifer) got her master’s degree from Indiana University in April 2009 studying the mating behavior of seahorses. After four years of diving off the Gulf Coast of Tampa and performing behavioral experiments at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, she left research to pursue a career in science writing. As The Scientist's managing editor, Jef edited features and oversaw the production of the TS Digest and quarterly print magazine. In 2022, her feature on uterus transplantation earned first place in the trade category of the Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism. She is a member of the National Association of Science Writers.
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