There are cells in your brain that recognize very specific
places, and have that as one of their main jobs. These cells, called place
cells, are found in an area behind your temple called the hippocampus. While
these cells must be sent information from nearby cells to do their job, so far
no one has been able to determine exactly what kind of nerve cells, or neurons,
work with place cells to craft the code they create for each location. Neurons
come in many different types with specialized functions. Some respond to edges
and borders, others to specific locations, others act like a compass and react
to which way you turn your head.
Now, researchers at the Kavli Institute for Systems
Neuroscience at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have
combined a range of advanced techniques that enable them to identify which
neurons communicate with each other at different times in the rat brain, and in
doing so, create the animal's sense of location. Their findings are published
in the 5 April issue of Science.