how brain senses direction and location

Researchers led by the Dartmouth College used micro-electrodes to record the activity of cells in a rat's brain that makes the spatial navigation possible.

A critical component involved in establishing direction process is the set of neurons called "head direction cells".

These cells act like a compass based on the direction the head is facing. They are located in the thalamus, a structure that sits on top of the brainstem, near the centre of the brain.

Neurons called "place cells" work to establish location relative to some landmarks or cues in the environment. The place cells are found in the hippocampus, part of the brain's temporal lobe.

Studies were conducted using implanted microelectrodes that enabled the monitoring of electrical activity as these different cell types fired.

The research found that the two populations the head direction cells and the place cells talk to one another.

"They put that information together to give you an overall sense of 'here', location wise and direction wise. That is the first ingredient for being able to ask the question, 'How am I going to get to point B if I am at point A?' It is the starting point on the cognitive map," said Taube, a professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

The study checked the responses of the spatial navigation system when an animal made an error and arrived at a destination other than the one targeted - its home refuge, in this case.

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