FeaturedNeuroscience·May 20, 2024·4 min readVR Unveils Brain’s GPS Response to IllusionsResearchers successfully induced illusions of self-location in participants using multi-sensory virtual reality (VR). They observed corresponding changes in the brain's grid cells, which are responsible for spatial navigation. This study is the first to demonstrate that purely cognitive changes in self-location, without physical movement or visual cues, can trigger activity in grid cells.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 18, 2021·5 min readHow the Brain Navigates CitiesResearchers say the brain appears to be wired to calculate not the shortest path, but the "pointiest" path, facing us toward our destination as much as possible.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·December 8, 2020·7 min readHow the Brain Remembers Right Place and Right TimeTwo new studies advance understanding of how the brain encodes episodic memories. The findings have the potential to develop new avenues of treatment for memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease and TBI.Read More
FeaturedGeneticsNeurologyNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·August 31, 2020·4 min readPeople With Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Have Deficits in NavigatingGrid cell dysfunction in the entorhinal cortex may explain why people with a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease have problems with navigation.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·January 30, 2020·6 min readBrain’s ‘GPS system’ toggles between present and possible future paths in real timeStudy shows how hippocampal cells can represent different hypothetical scenarios consistently and systematically over time. The findings shed new light on how place cells assist in decision making and imagination.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·November 19, 2019·4 min readVirtual ‘moonwalk’ for science reveals distortions in spatial memoryMemories learned within a distorted coordinated system are also distorted when recalled later.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·August 2, 2019·6 min readKnowing where the center of a space is helps inform spatial awarenessThe postrhinal cortex of rats contains three types of spatial cells which act together to provide a sense of location and directional orientation.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·April 22, 2019·5 min readBrain regions linked to memory and emotion help humans navigate smellDuring navigation tasks using a 'smell scape', the entorhinal cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex elicit grid cell-like activity.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·February 11, 2019·5 min readRats in Augmented Reality Help Show How the Brain Determines LocationUsing augmented reality, researchers discover how rats recalibrate learned relationships between a landmark, speed, distance and time to create a locational 'map' in the brain.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·November 9, 2018·7 min readNavigating Our Thoughts: Fundamental Principles of ThinkingResearchers propose a new theory of human thinking, suggesting our brain's navigation system is key to thinking. This may explain why our knowledge seems to be organized in spatial fashion.Read More
ElectrophysiologyFeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·October 14, 2018·4 min readHow the Brain’s Grid System Maps Mental SpacesAn international team of researchers have been able to demonstrate, with electrophysiological evidence, the existence of grid-like activity in the human brain.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·August 29, 2018·7 min readHow the Brain Experiences TimeResearchers have identified a network of cells in the entorhinal cortex that appear to play a key role into putting experience into a temporal context.Read More
