Neural drift during rest drives walking direction and memory consolidation in Drosophila

Neural activity in a subset of fan-shaped body neurons in Drosophila continually drifts during rest, centered 180 degrees opposite the walking direction.

• Why it matters: It is unclear how navigation decisions and goal memories are maintained during rest, when animals are not actively moving.
• What they did: Using a virtual-reality navigation learning assay, the authors tracked rest dynamics, then used optogenetic activation during rest and analyzed downstream circuit activity with connectome-guided computational modeling.
• The result: Optogenetic stimulation during rest biases later walking direction, and learning shifts rest activity to reveal goal-direction memory; downstream neurons correct the 180-degree shift, consistent with a compact reactivation circuit.

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