Whether we imagine navigation or navigate in real life, our brainwaves look the same

Physical and imagined movement through real-world environments may use the same neural mechanism in the brain, suggests a Nature Human Behaviour paper. The findings might help us to better understand human memory in real-world settings.

The brain’s ability to form and recall spatial memories is important for moving through a space and imagining future experiences. Previous research in rodents suggests that specific brain waves, known as theta oscillations, in a region of the brain called the hippocampus (located within the medial temporal lobe) might help mice to navigate space as well as remember or imagine movement. However, whether similar mechanisms exist in humans, particularly during real-world navigation, is unclear.

Martin Seeber, Nanthia Suthana, and colleagues measured the brain activity of five human participants with epilepsy who, for clinical monitoring purposes, had chronically implanted electrodes in the medial temporal lobe. The authors compared the theta oscillations from this region during real-world and imagined navigation—during the imagined navigation trials, participants mentally simulated navigating the real-world routes while walking on a treadmill.

Seeber, Suthana, and colleagues found that similar brainwave patterns occurred during real and imagined navigation despite the absence of external cues—in real-world scenarios these could include road signs or maps. The authors also used modeling to predict the relative position of an individual within the route from neural data.

The findings suggest a common neural framework for navigation and imagination, with implications for understanding our memory in real-world settings. However, the authors note that larger, more diverse populations are needed to validate these findings.