Specialized brain cells provide an internal coordinate system that enables mammals to orient in space. Scientists at LMU and Harvard University have now shown mathematically why these cells generate hexagonal lattices.
Apr 30, 2015
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Realising how places connect geographically causes local maps in the brain to join, forming one big map which helps with planning future journeys, finds a new UCL study.
Apr 23, 2015
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By analyzing the activity of "GPS" neurons in mice, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that the mental maps created by these cells accumulate errors, which are corrected when the animal ...
Apr 16, 2015
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The brain's GPS would be worthless if it simply contained maps of our surroundings that were not aligned to the real world. But we now know how this is done.
Feb 12, 2015
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Patterns created by the brain's grid cells, which are believed to guide navigation, are modified by the shape of the environment, according to UCL researchers. This means grid patterns aren't a universal metric for the brain's ...
Feb 11, 2015
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An area of the brain involved in eye movements also plays an important role in establishing our direction and navigating our environment, a Dartmouth College study finds.
Feb 10, 2015
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A new Dartmouth College study sheds light on the brain cells that function in establishing one's location and direction. The findings contribute to our understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying our abilities to successfully ...
Feb 5, 2015
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If you have taken a walk and would like to return home you need to have an idea of where you are in relation to your destination. To do this, you need to know which way you are facing and also in which direction home lies. ...
Jan 5, 2015
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Imagine being able to recognize your car as your own but never being able to remember where you parked it. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have induced this all-too-common human experience ...
Nov 10, 2014
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This year's Nobel Prize in medicine recognises work on "cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain." Those cells are found in the hippocampus. It is just one tiny part of the brain, but this structure gets at ...
Oct 7, 2014
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