Researchers have identified a distinct excitatory neuron in the retrosplenial cortex that encodes direction related information over long durations.
Combining neuroimaging and a constructed virtual reality town, researchers found the brain uses three different systems to perceive environment. One system allows us to recognize a place, another helps navigate through that location, and the third helps navigate from one place to another. The parahippocampal place area (PPA) helps encode location recognition, while the retrosplenial complex allows for mentally mapping the locations of specific places.
Researchers have identified specific, key brain regions that help us link different views of our surroundings.
A new study reports that during learning, the visual cortex operation modes change to implement top-down processing.