Emergence of Maps in the Memories of Blind Navigation Agents

Decades of research into intelligent animal navigation posits that organisms build and maintain internal spatial representations (or maps) 1 of their environment, that enables the organism to determine and follow task-appropriate paths (Epstein, Patai, Julian, & Spiers, 2017; O'keefe & Nadel, 1978; Tollman, 1948). Hamsters, wolves, chimpanzees, and bats leverage prior exploration to determine and follow shortcuts they may never have taken before (Chapuis & Scardigli, 1993; Harten, Katz, Goldshtein, Handel, & Yovel, 2020; Menzel, 1973; Peters, 1976; Toledo et al., 2020). Even blind mole rats and animals rendered situationally-blind in dark environments demonstrate shortcut behaviors (Avni, Tzvaigrach, & Eilam, 2008; Kimchi, Etienne, & Terkel, 2004; Maaswinkel & Whishaw, 1999). Ants forage for food along meandering paths but take near-optimal return trips (Müller & Wehner, 1988), though there is some controversy about whether insects like ants and bees are capable of forming maps (Cheung et al., 2014; Cruse & Wehner, 2011).