Rhythms in the brain help give a sense of location, study shows

January 10, 2013 in Neuroscience

Research at the University of Edinburgh tracked electrical signals in the part of the brain linked to spatial awareness.

The study could help us understand how, if we know a room, we can go into it with our eyes shut and find our way around. This is closely related to the way we map out how to get from one place to another

Scientists found that , which code location through increases in electrical activity, do not do so by talking directly to each other. Instead, they can only send each other signals through cells that are known to reduce electrical activity.

This is unexpected as cells that reduce electrical signalling are often thought to simply supress .

The research also looked at electrical rhythms or waves of brain activity. Previous studies have found that is linked to not only the number and strength of but also where on the electrical wave they occur.

The research shows that the indirect communication between that are involved in spatial awareness also helps to explain how these electrical waves are generated.

This finding is surprising because its suggests that the same allow our brains to work out our location and generate rhythmic waves of activity.

Spatial awareness and the brain's electrical rhythms are known to be affected in conditions such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease, so the scientists' work could help research in these areas.

The study, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council, is published in the journal Neuron. It looked at connections between nerve cells in the brain needed for spatial awareness in mice and then used computer modelling to recreate patterns of found in the brain.

Matt Nolan, of the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Integrative Physiology, said: "Rhythms in brain activity are very mysterious and the research helps shed some light on this area as well as helping us understand how our brains code spatial information. It is particularly interesting that cells thought to encode location do not signal to each other directly but do so through intermediary cells. This is somewhat like members of a team not talking to each other, but instead sending messages via members of an opposing side."

Journal reference: Neuron search and more info website

Provided by University of Edinburgh search and more info website

4.5 /5 (2 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

MrVibrating
Jan 10, 2013

Rank: not rated yet
Very neat!
Sinister1811
Jan 13, 2013

Rank: 2.3 / 5 (3)
I've always been hopeless at finding my way around new or foreign places (hell, even places I've been to a million times before). I hope that there will be some positive findings relating to this.
Tausch
Jan 13, 2013

Rank: not rated yet
This research suggestion, of an electrical wave, dovetails to offering the most efficient way of accessing the organization suggested in this research:

http://medicalxpr...tal.html

Both works of research mutually enhance and strengthen each others work.
Rank 4.5 /5 (2 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

New neuron formation could increase capacity for new learning, at the expense of old memories

New research presented today shows that formation of new neurons in the hippocampus - a brain region known for its importance in learning and remembering - could cause forgetting of old memories by causing a reorganization ...

Neuroscience created 16 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Help at hand for people with schizophrenia

How can healthy people who hear voices help schizophrenics? Finding the answer for this is at the centre of research conducted at the University of Bergen.

Neuroscience created 16 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 2

Japanese research organizations contribute to Human Brain Project

One of the major frontiers of modern science is a comprehensive understanding of the human brain and its functions to guide the development of new technologies in information and communication. In a major announcement for ...

Neuroscience created 17 hours ago | popularity 3.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria

(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...

Neuroscience created May 23, 2013 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

Brain uses internal 'average voice' prototype to identify who is talking

(Medical Xpress)—The human brain is able to identify individuals' voices by comparing them against an internal 'average voice' prototype, according to neuroscientists.

Neuroscience created May 23, 2013 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 3 | with audio podcast


Engineered cytomegalovirus protects monkeys from HIV equivalent

(Medical Xpress)—A new study by researchers in the US has shown that an ancient virus can be modified to help in the fight against the simian immunodeficiency virus SIV, which is the equivalent in monkeys ...

Researchers identify first drug targets in childhood genetic tumor disorder

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers ...

Hormone levels may provide key to understanding psychological disorders in women

Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL.

Going live: Immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis

Biological processes are generally based on events at the molecular and cellular level. To understand what happens in the course of infections, diseases or normal bodily functions, scientists would need to ...

Alzheimer's disease, the soft target of the euthanasia debate

(Medical Xpress)—The way Alzheimer's disease is portrayed by advocacy groups and the media is having undue influence on the euthanasia debate, according to a Deakin University nursing ethics professor.

Depression raises diabetics' risk of severe low blood sugar episodes

(Medical Xpress)—Patients with diabetes who are depressed are much more likely to develop episodes of dangerously low blood sugars, or hypoglycemia, than are those who are not depressed, a new study has ...