Brain’s ‘Inner GPS’ Lets You Know Where You Are, And How You Got There

Scientists at the University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, studied and observed how rats decide where they are and how they move anywhere in the surroundings. This is the same with human brain as it crafts a map of the surrounding environment same as that of a GPS system. It was observed that upon placing the rat anywhere in the room, certain sort of cell known as hippocampus gets stimulated while the other nerve cells got stimulated when the rat went to other part of the room. Thus it was concluded that these cells crafted a map of the room.

Later it was found out that how the events in the brain cells make it possible for the brain to divide the surroundings into various latitudes and longitudes to know that how distant one has moved from the initial place.

Another type of cells called the grid cells were recognized which help the brain to judge the correct path and position. This study has greatly helped to understand other functions of brain such as memory, thinking, planning etc.

 

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