FeaturedNeuroscience·January 15, 2025·8 min readHow the Brain Uses Place Cells to Anchor Episodic MemoriesResearchers have developed a model explaining how place cells in the hippocampus anchor both spatial and episodic memories. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex interact with hippocampal cells to create a scaffold, linking memories to specific neural patterns.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·December 10, 2024·7 min readHow Sleep Shapes Our Brain’s Mental Navigational MapsA new study reveals how the brain forms cohesive mental maps of spaces and highlights the critical role of sleep in this process. While "place cells" in the hippocampus mark specific locations, weaker spatial cells stitch these points into a comprehensive cognitive map.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·February 29, 2024·5 min readEndocannabinoids Play Role in Spatial NavigationResearchers made a new discovery about how we navigate our environments, pinpointing a brain cell mechanism crucial for spatial orientation. This research reveals that place cells in the hippocampus, essential for creating mental maps of our surroundings, activate and release endocannabinoids to communicate position information.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscienceNeuroscience Videos·December 22, 2021·5 min readNeurons in the Olfactory Cortex Link Smells to PlacesNeurons in the primary olfactory cortex play a role in encoding spatial maps, a new study reports.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·October 28, 2021·5 min readThe Goal in Mind: Brain’s Internal Goal Map Helps Animals Precisely Navigate to Chosen DestinationStudy reveals a specific neural code for spatial goals, providing evidence for the brain's goal map that guides us to a remote location over space and time.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·September 3, 2021·4 min readNew Model for Solving Novel Problems Uses Mental MapThe cognitive map allows people to compute on the fly with limited information to solve abstract problems.Read More
ElectrophysiologyFeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·June 8, 2021·4 min readFirst Glimpse of Brains Retrieving Mistaken Memories ObservedRat study reveals place cells in the hippocampus have the same patterns of activity whether they correctly, or incorrectly recall a memory. However, when the memory is incorrect, the activity begins later and is slower.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·February 15, 2021·5 min readPeeking at the Pathfinding Strategies of the HippocampusResearchers observed hippocampal place cell changes in animal experiments of cue-poor and cue-rich spatial environments. The findings have implications for the treatment of brain disorders and the development of new AI technologies.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·January 11, 2021·6 min readBrain Circuit That Encodes Timing of Events IdentifiedPyramidal cells in the CA2 region of the hippocampus are responsible for storing critical timing information.Read More
ElectrophysiologyFeaturedNeuroscienceOpen Neuroscience Articles·July 31, 2020·5 min readTo Distinguish Contexts, Animals Think ProbabilisticallyThe act of remapping an area can be mathematically modeled as probabilistic reasoning in rodents.Read More
FeaturedNeuroscience·April 6, 2020·5 min readMemory cells that help us interpret new situations identifiedHippocampal neurons that store abstract memories of prior experiences activate when new, but similar events take place.Read More
