How does our brain sleep together where we are ? How do we pilot from place to place ? These arequestionsthat have beset the minds of philosophers and scientists for hundreds of years . So much so , in fact , that the three scientist who helped unravel these closed book have just win one of the world ’s most honored awards for intellectual achievement : theNobel Prizefor physiology and medical specialty .
British - American neuroscientist John O’Keefe , based at University College London , was the first of the three to start identifying components of our brain ’s internal GPS system of rules . Back in 1971 , after examine the brains of rats , he discovered a circle of cell located in a area call the hippocampus that always became activated when the animal was in a particular billet . He then found that another bunch of neurons started fire when the rat get into a different area . He was then able to demonstrate that these jail cell , which he dubbed “ post cells , ” were not merely register visual information , but were actually building up a map of the area . This thought was ab initio poorly obtain by the scientific community , and many believed he was neglecting other important senses such as smell .
“ I call back how great was the scoffing in the other 1970s when John first described these ‘ plaza cubicle ’ ” recalls Oxford University physiologistJohn Stein . “ Now , like so many ideas that were first highly controversial , masses say : ‘ Well , that ’s obvious ! ’ ”
The next pieces of the puzzle were revealed more than three decades later by a Norwegian husband and married woman squad , May - Britt and Edvard Moser , who have been working at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology , Trondheim . The pair actually completed ashort research stintwith O’Keefe back in 1995 shortly after they graduated , where they learn how to take electric transcription of place cells .
The duo later name a different hardening of brain electric cell locate in the entorhinal cortex , which they coined “ grid cells , ” that give a coordinate system , somewhat likelines of longitude and latitude . Just like billet cells , these cells became activated every time a rat run short to a particular locating , but each cell was found to havemultiple firing locationswhich forge a bizarrely exact hexagonal grid . These particular cells allowed the animal tonavigateand achieve precise positioning .
Morerecent workhas cater evidence that these two types of mentality cells are not exclusive to rat and exist in humans also . For example , the brains of Alzheimer ’s patient role show a expiration of cells in both the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex passably too soon on , and it is plebeian for sufferers to recede their way and fail to recognize familiar environments . These uncovering will therefore hopefully help scientist infer more about diseases such as this .
“ The discovery of the mind ’s placement system represents a paradigm shift in our intellect of how ensembles of specialised cells work together to execute in high spirits cognitive function , ” said theNobel committee . “ It has open new boulevard for understanding other cognitive processes , such as memory , mentation and provision . ”
[ ViaNobel Prize , BBC News , AFP , NatureandMoser Group ]
