Scientists have gained new insights into how the brainโs internal compass gives us a sense of direction.
The findings shed light on how the brain orients itself in changing environmentsโand even the processes that can go wrong with degenerative diseases like dementia that leave people feeling lost and confused.
โNeuroscience research has witnessed a technology revolution in the last decade allowing us to ask and answer questions that could only be dreamed of just years ago,โ says Mark Brandon, an associate professor of psychiatry at McGill University and researcher at the Douglas Research Centre who co-led the work with Zaki Ajabi, a former student at McGill University and now a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University.
To understand how visual information affects the brainโs internal compass, the researchers exposed mice to a disorienting virtual world while recording the brainโs neural activity. The team recorded the brainโs internal compass with unprecedented precision using the latest advances in neuronal recording technology.
This ability to accurately decode the animalโs internal head direction allowed the researchers to explore how the head-direction cells, which make up the brainโs internal compass, support the brainโs ability to reorient itself in changing surroundings.
Specifically, the research team identified a phenomenon they call โnetwork gainโ that allowed the brainโs internal compass to reorient after the mice were disoriented.
โItโs as if the brain has a mechanism to implement a โreset buttonโ allowing for rapid reorientation of its internal compass in confusing situations,โ says Ajabi.
Although researchers exposed the animals in this study to unnatural visual experiences, the authors argue that such scenarios are already relevant to the modern human experience, especially with the rapid spread of virtual reality technology.
These findings โmay eventually explain how virtual reality systems can easily take control over our sense of orientation,โ adds Ajabi.
The results inspired the research team to develop new models to better understand the underlying mechanisms.
โThis work is a beautiful example of how experimental and computational approaches together can advance our understanding of brain activity that drives behavior,โ says coauthor Xue-Xin Wei, a computational neuroscientist and an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
The findings also have significant implications for Alzheimerโs disease. โOne of the first self-reported cognitive symptoms of Alzheimerโs is that people become disoriented and lost, even in familiar settings,โ Brandon says.
The researchers expect that a better understanding of how the brainโs internal compass and navigation system works will lead to earlier detection and better assessment of treatments for Alzheimerโs disease.
The study appears in the journal Nature.
The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded the work.
Source: McGill University
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