Rat hippocampus maps other rats on the same cells it uses for self
AnnaCiaunica · x · 2026-11-10
Anna Ciaunica reshares one of the cleanest results on how the brain represents self versus other:
- In rats, the same hippocampal cells that encode the animal's own location also map another rat's position; a decoder reads the other rat's location only 4–5 cm less precisely than the rat's own.
- In bats, over half the cells tracking another bat also track self, and they fire at lower rates than ordinary place cells.
Takeaway: the brain doesn't build a second map for someone else — the other rides on the map it already maintains, so knowing where others are adds only a small cost to a bill the brain was already paying.
Sources: Danjo et al., Science 2018; Omer et al., Science 2018.
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