Idiothetic literally means "self-proposition" (Greek derivation), and is used in navigation models (e.g., of a rat in a maze) as in the phrase "idiothetic cues" to indicate that path integration (Mittelstaedt and Mittelstaedt 1973, 1980) was used to determine the present location instead of allothetic, or external, cues (e.g., visual or tactile). The term idiothetic is also used in psychology and contrasted with nomothetic.
Mittelstaedt, H. and Mittelstaedt, M.-L. (1973). Mechanismen der orientierung ohne richtende aussenreize. Forschr. Zool., 21:46–58.
Mittelstaedt, M.-L. and Mittelstaedt, H. (1980). Homing by path integration in a mammal. Naturwissenschaften, 67:566–567.