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A neural heading estimate is compared with an internal goal to guide oriented navigation
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Abstract
Goal-directed navigation is thought to rely on the activity of head-direction cells, but how this activity guides moment-to-moment actions remains poorly understood. Here we characterize how heading neurons in the Drosophila central complex guide moment-to-moment navigational behavior. We establish an innate, heading-neuron-dependent, tethered navigational behavior where walking flies maintain a straight trajectory along a specific angular bearing for hundreds of body lengths. While flies perform this task, we use chemogenetics to transiently rotate their neural heading estimate and observe that the flies slow down and turn in a direction that aims to return the heading estimate to the angle it occupied before stimulation. These results support a working model in which the fly brain quantitatively compares an internal estimate of current heading with an internal goal heading and uses the sign and magnitude of the difference to determine which way to turn, how hard to turn and how fast to walk forward.
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In the citing paper
“No statistical methods were used to predetermine sample sizes but our sample sizes are similar to those reported in previous publications23,24,33,34,37,38.”
From Multimodal cue integration and learning in a neural representation of head direction (2025) · cites this paper as [33]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe check wasn’t confident either way, so it gives no verdict — never disputed.
In the citing paper
“Here, behavioral reorientation into the wind is likely mediated by pathways for orientation control that bypass the HD system32,33,44”
From Multimodal cue integration and learning in a neural representation of head direction (2025) · cites this paper as [33]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“PEN1 neurons relay information about the fly’s angular velocity to EPG neurons, and so micro-stimulating PEN1 neurons causes the head direction system to register a fictive behavioral turn.”
From Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila (2025) · cites this paper as Green et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“PEN1 neurons relay information about the fly’s angular velocity to EPG neurons, and so micro-stimulating PEN1 neurons causes the head direction system to register a fictive behavioral turn.”
From Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila (2025) · cites this paper as Green et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“Head direction neurons (EPG neurons) (Seelig and Jayaraman, 2015) can influence steering (Giraldo et al., 2018; Green et al., 2019) via central complex neurons that compare head direction signals with internal goal signals (Beetz et al., 2022; Martin et al., 2015; Mussells Pires et al., 2024; Shiozaki et al., 2020; Westeinde et al., 2024).”
From Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila (2025) · cites this paper as Green et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“we find that the fly typically executes a compensatory behavioral turn shortly after the EPG bump jump, as reported previously (Green et al., 2019).”
From Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila (2025) · cites this paper as Green et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“we found that briefly micro-stimulating PEN1 neurons causes this bump to ‘jump’ to a new location (Green et al., 2019).”
From Neural circuit mechanisms for steering control in walking Drosophila (2025) · cites this paper as Green et al., 2019
In the citing paper
“the brain region that compares the animal’s current heading to an internal goal direction62,63,76,77.”
From Fine-grained descending control of steering in walking Drosophila (2023) · cites this paper as [77]
In the citing paper
“When the central complex commands a large and abrupt change in heading, it also commands a sudden decrease in forward velocity62,77”
From Fine-grained descending control of steering in walking Drosophila (2023) · cites this paper as [77]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Green, J., Vijayan, V., Mussells Pires, P., Adachi, A., & Maimon, G.
- Affiliations
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute (US)
- Corresponding author
- Maimon, Gaby
- Venue
- Nature Neuroscience
- Published
- 2019-07-22
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1460-1468
- ISSN
- 1097-6256 (ISSN-L)
- 1546-1726
- PMC
- PMC7688015
- OpenAlex
- W2963869135
- Cited by
- 137
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 15 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13
- FWCI
- 7.76
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
- McKnight Foundation
- Leon Levy Foundation
- Nature
- National Institutes of Health (NIH P40OD018537, P40OD018537)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DP2DA035148)
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R01NS104934)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Keywords
- heading estimation, head direction cells, goal-directed navigation, Drosophila, central complex, turning behavior
- MeSH terms
- Orientation, Spatial, Animals, Brain, Cues, Drosophila, Female, Neurons, Spatial Navigation
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