LaChance’s research studies how animals understand their position and movement in relation to their surroundings. While most such research in rodents focuses on the encoding of external cues in the hippocampus and grid cells in the entorhinal cortext, LaChance’s doctoral research focused on the postrhinal cortex, using implanted electrodes and an overhead camera. He analyzed the resulting data statistically, revealing neuronal activity related to internal, rather than external, cues, in the process identifying three populations of cells that encode different types of internal and external cues regarding spacing positioning. Among his first-author papers is a recent publication in Science.