Backtracking during navigation is correlated with enhanced anterior cingulate activity and suppression of alpha oscillations and the 'default-mode' network.

Successful navigation can require realizing the current path choice was a mistake and the best strategy is to retreat along the recent path: 'back-track'. Despite the wealth of studies on the neural correlates of navigation little is known about backtracking. To explore the neural underpinnings of backtracking we tested humans during functional magnetic resonance imaging on their ability to navigate to a set of goal locations in a virtual desert island riven by lava which constrained the paths that could be taken.