Sequential organization of movement kinematics is associated with spatial orientation across scales and species

A large part of an animals' behavioral repertoire involves non-conditioned or spontaneously occurring behaviors (e.g., exploration, food hoarding, food protection, food handling). These behaviors are highly organized sequences of movement. In general, these movement sequences alternate between periods of fast linear speeds with little change in heading and periods of slow linear speeds with larger change in heading. This sequential organization or movement segmentation can be quantified as the correlation between linear and angular speeds. This review examines evidence that the strength of movement segmentation is related to direction estimation independent of scale when humans or rats are restricted to using self-movement cues to guide navigation and may be a novel measure of spatial orientation.