Nobel Prize for Medicine for Discovering the Brains Internal GPS

Some people are good at just knowing directions and where they are, as though they have a built in compass. Evidently, we do, and three scientists won a Nobel Prize for Medicine for finding the part of the brain that does this: They call it an internal GPS.

"How does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?"

Ole Kiehn, a Nobel committee member and professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institute, said the three scientists had found "an inner GPS that makes it possible to know where we are and find our way".

OKeefe, now director at the centre in neural circuits and behaviour at University College London, discovered the first component of the positioning system in 1971 when he found that a type of nerve cell in a brain region called the hippocampus was always activated when a rat was in a certain place in a room.

Seeing that other nerve cells were activated when the rat was in other positions, OKeefe concluded that these "place cells" formed a map of the room.

Rueters

This is a nice find even if we already knew this. The next thing they will tell us is that woman don't have an as good internal GPS as men. Anyways, this applies to my wife at the very LEAST!

Again, this great discovery pin points something more in the brain which can lead to more control and obfuscation. I know I can sound pessimist, but a discovery is heard by good souls and dark ones alike.

Thanks for binging this to our attention.

a reply to: tetra50

I believe it. I used to know a guy…

we could blindfold him and spin him around and he would still point north every time.

Sorry dude for making you dizzy.

One of the three scientists, who won the $1.1 million Nobel prize, May Britt-Moser, said she almost didn't take the call from the secretary general of the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute, telling her that she and her husband, Edvard Moser, a Norwegian couple and scientific research team, and John O'Keefe, had won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine, because she was discussing data from their study with colleagues and it's that interesting.

Figuring out how the brain deals with spatial problems, orienting ourselves in the physical environment and/or creating a map of the space around us, and how we find our way is a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries. They say the finding of the specific part of the brain that does this for us has revolutionized our understanding of brains, and will help doctors understand how strokes and Alzheimer's affect our brains.

Back in 1971, O'Keefe found a specific type of nerve cell in the hippocampus that was always active when a rat was in a certain place in a room. He found differentiation, other nerve cells being activated when the rat moved and was in another spot, and so deduced that the different nerve cells being active in this way formed a cellular map, i.e. different cells for different areas of a room.

It was 1996 before the three worked together to figure out how to record this cellular activity in the hippocampus.

Nearly a decade later, the Moser team discovered cells, in the entorhinal cortex region in brains of rats, which function as a navigation system. These so-called "grid cells", they discovered, are constantly working to create a map of the outside world and are responsible for animals' knowing where they are, where they have been, and where they are going.

The finding, a fundamental piece of research, explains how the brain works but does not have immediate implications for new medicines, since it does not set out a mechanism of action.

But knowledge about the brain's positioning system can also help understanding of what causes loss of spatial awareness in stroke patients or those with devastating brain diseases like dementia, of which Alzheimer's is the most common form and which affects 44 million people worldwide.

"The discovery...revolutionised our understanding of how the brain knows where we are and is able to navigate within our surroundings," said Andrew King, a professor of neurophysiology at Britain's University of Oxford.

originally posted by: bitsforbytes
This is a nice find even if we already knew this. The next thing they will tell us is that woman don't have an as good internal GPS as men. Anyways, this applies to my wife at the very LEAST!

Again, this great discovery pin points something more in the brain which can lead to more control and obfuscation. I know I can sound pessimist, but a discovery is heard by good souls and dark ones alike.

Thanks for binging this to our attention.

Yes. Lol. It will undoubtedly have something to do with hormones, I'm sure.
As to your second point, you sound like me! I have been thinking I was the worst one about going there, but you got there before me, this time. Unfortunately, and all too seriously, everytime they learn something good, especially about neuroscience, I think, it's taught somebody a way, more than likely, to hem us in even more…..I agree with you, sad to say.
Location, location, location! The real estate of the mind just provides more ways to control this locality, huh?

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: tetra50

I believe it. I used to know a guy…

we could blindfold him and spin him around and he would still point north every time.

Sorry dude for making you dizzy.

Funny. Did you make him pin a tail on something, too?
2nd

originally posted by: tetra50

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: tetra50

I believe it. I used to know a guy…

we could blindfold him and spin him around and he would still point north every time.

Sorry dude for making you dizzy.

Funny. Did you make him pin a tail on something, too?
2nd

Lol, nope…. just made him dizzy. Because we didn't believe it. Like rolling a 7 every time. Thats supposed to be impossible. Poor guy, he didn't need to drink at parties if we were there.

The article says the discovery was first ridiculed in the '70s when O'Keefe first found the "place" cells. Colleagues said what he found was just an artefact, or that he was underestimating a rat's sense of smell.

What I find interesting is that we knew how to give this to an iPhone, before we knew where the same mechanism was in our own brains.

a reply to: tetra50

Its value appreciates depending on where it is, away from anything the government deems important....I really should stop, this is all non sense.

Well to confuse someones internal GPS is not that hard to do: put a bag over his head, give the man a few spins and he is positioned somewhere, he just doesn't know it anymore . But, to have a device which can confuse peoples position on command, targeting large amounts of people at at time on a vast area would be valuable for police, military.

You know, I rather fight a war with an axe or sword rather than with all this mind numbing technology and biological weapons.

a reply to: tetra50

The iPhone did not come out in 1971, nor do they operate in the same manner as the brain. Also note that with discoveries, the data is limited so they are treated (rightly) with skepticism.

I've done a lot of hiking in many types of terrain. I've lost my bearings a few times, but generally, I can find my way to where I'm going pretty well. It does feel like an extra sense. I know dogs and cats have it.

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: tetra50

The iPhone did not come out in 1971, nor do they operate in the same manner as the brain. Also note that with discoveries, the data is limited so they are treated (rightly) with skepticism.

As for the discovery thing, I was repeating information to you directly from the article. On my part, it is not meant to be judgemental, nor critical of anyone or anything, only informational, directly from the article.

I don't know what the date of 1971 when O'Keefe discovered "place" cells has to do with the iPhone….as the specific area of the brain with our "GPS" was only discovered very recently; hence, the 2014 Nobel Prize.

As for iPhone's operating differently from the brain, obviously, I know this. First, I was making an attempt at sarcastic humor. Guess it failed for you. Second, the workings of a computer's "brain" are modeled on the human brain.
Thanks for your positive input on my thread. Hope you enjoyed the information, anyway.
tetra50

a reply to: bitsforbytes
Judging from my morning, and last several years, I'd say the battle is more informational, than anything.
Have a good day.
tetra

originally posted by: intrptr

originally posted by: tetra50

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: tetra50

I believe it. I used to know a guy…

we could blindfold him and spin him around and he would still point north every time.

Sorry dude for making you dizzy.

Funny. Did you make him pin a tail on something, too?
2nd

Lol, nope…. just made him dizzy. Because we didn't believe it. Like rolling a 7 every time. Thats supposed to be impossible. Poor guy, he didn't need to drink at parties if we were there.

LOL. Thanks for giving me a laugh. I needed that this morning. Just reporting information from an article seems to be a complicated endeavor on ATS. Guess I need to take another break from this website….
tetra

a reply to: tetra50

But computer architectures are not modeled on human brains. They're pretty much orthogonal to each other. GPS works by triangulating signals from satellites. This in and of itself does not lead to a deeper understanding of the human brain (or visa versa).

originally posted by: GetHyped
a reply to: tetra50

But computer architectures are not modeled on human brains. They're pretty much orthogonal to each other. GPS works by triangulating signals from satellites. This in and of itself does not lead to a deeper understanding of the human brain (or visa versa).

What doesn't?
2nd

You are correct, of course, about your first statement. And I am wrong.

Again, with the iPhone comment, I was really trying just for humor. Okay? It didn't work, and now I have apologized for my stupidity.
Is that enough, yet? And I'm not being flip; my apology is sincere, and I have said I was wrong.

Now, as to the triangulation of GPS, of course (IF this is what you meant) does not lead to ANY kind of understanding of the brain, whatsoever, as they have absolutely nothing to do with each other. And again, I should not have made the comment at all.

The article says, in Reuters, that their discovery, which has absolutely nothing to do with phone GPS triangulation at all, of the part of the brain that handles orientation/navigation/direction, does, in fact, does "revolutionize the understanding of the human brain and offers clues to how strokes and dementia affect it." I am only repeating what a news article says. If you do not think it does that, I've provided the link, and you can take it up with the author of the article.
tetra

a reply to: tetra50

If I made you laugh then that made my day, too.

I found a link about how birds navigate using magnetic "resources' in their brain. Some birds use the sun but others fly at night, too. I remember reading about how certain birds had a "ring" of metallic minerals in their skulls (like a horseshoe or Tiara) that faced forward and they used that like a compass. I could't find that article and this one is kind of wordy. If birds do it then maybe that is another skill we have lost over the eons.

Bird brains and eyes

a reply to: intrptr
And we've lost our tiaras, too….
what a pity.

Just when you think you have a complete map they move it.
45° 44.278 007° 19.413

Brains Internal GPS

I think my fiancee's is broken, might have to trade her in for a newer model