perirhinal cortex tagged posts

New ‘GPS’ neuron discovered

Sustained firing patterns occur selectively in PRH cells

Sustained firing patterns occur selectively in PRH cells

An internationtal team has identified a new type of neuron which might play a vital role in humans’ ability to navigate their environments. The discovery is an important step towards understanding how the brain codes navigation behaviour at larger scales and could potentially open up new treatment strategies for people with impaired topographical orientation like Alzheimer’s patients.

Research shows that the precise mechanism for navigation includes hippocampal place cells, which increase or decrease in electrical activity depending on one’s location. However, when making their daily commute, people don’t need very detailed representations of which houses they pass in which order...

Read More