Navigation is essential to animal survival. Finding food, getting home, migrating, and escaping danger all depend on an animal’s ability to successfully find its way in its surroundings.

At this year’s Society for Neuroscience conference in Chicago, SWC Senior Research Fellow Dr Sepiedeh Keshavarzi presented her research into how the brain helps animals keep track of their own motion, which is crucial for successful navigation. Along with Troy Margrie’s lab at the SWC, Dr Keshavarzi is looking into how vestibular signals combine with visual motion cues to let animals estimate their own movements. Her work looks specifically at the role of the retrosplenial cortex, a key area for spatial navigation.

The Sainsbury Wellcome Centre encourages open dialogue and exchange. We welcome your comments and questions about the work presented in this video. You can get in touch with Dr Keshavarzi by emailing s.keshavarzi@ucl.ac.uk or on twitter at @SepiKeshavarzi. You can reach the SWC communications team at swc-comms@ucl.ac.uk.