Primates gesture to convey direction

“Excuse me, but I am lost. Could you direct me to Hodson Hall?”

Regardless of the particulars, we have all heard this line before. The all too familiar request for directions is often met with an answer, a nice “thank you,” and an amicable parting between the two parties. But what if the directions were from a chimpanzee?

This reality is not as far-fetched as it may seem. Researchers at the Georgia State University Language Research Center recently discovered that primates, much like humans, are able to direct each other to specific locations through gestures.

In their study of primate-directing ability, the researchers hid food in a large room and let a chimpanzee know the location of the stash. A human was then introduced into the room and the researchers observed how the chimpanzee revealed knowledge of the food location. The location was always unknown to the human subject and over 10 meters from the entrance site. Despite these communication challenges, the chimpanzee directed the human to the food with gestures.

Where does our sense of direction come from?

In August 2013, researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, Thomas Jefferson University, Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania answered this question by pinpointing the sense of direction in grid cells of the brain. These grid cells were discovered through a study in which participants played a videogame that required them to locate objects and bring them back to the original starting location. By mapping brain firings, the researchers identified grid cells that keep track of spatial location in a foreign environment.

And now for the most profound question facing humanity: Why did the chicken cross the road?

In a 2007 study, researchers from Frankfurt University showed that chickens, like migratory birds, have a directional system that relies on the Earth’s magnetic field. In their study, the researchers presented newly hatched chickens with a screen located at each cardinal direction: north, south, east and west. Behind each screen was a ball. These chicks were trained to believe that their mother was located behind the screen with a red ball. The red ball was always located behind the screen that corresponded with the northern position. After many rounds of training, the researchers changed the magnetic field so that the new north was located in the originally eastern direction. Surprisingly, the chickens avoided their original route and went to the screen located at the new north. This suggests that the chickens perceive direction based on the Earth’s magnetic field rather than spatial memory.

Rats and humans, although not entirely dependent on the magnetic field, are also born with an innate sense of direction. In 2010, researchers and the University College London Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience showed that the brain’s directional mapping system is divided into three distinct areas. These areas become active at different points of development. By studying the activity of rat brains, the researchers found that directional neurons activate directly after birth. Location neurons activate over the next couple of days. Distance neurons activate last, not firing until day 21. In this study, all of the rats tested were male so researchers were not able to determine if there is an inherent difference in the sense of direction between males and females. Thus, more research is needed to answer the second most profound question facing humanity: Do males or females have a better sense of direction?