Brain found to be more complex
SAN FRANCISCO - A new study suggests that the system of grid cells, known as the brain's global positioning system, is more complicated than anyone had guessed.
Researchers with Stanford University report this week in Neuron that human brains map out the world in a more complex way, with some of the neurons in the internal navigation systems look a lot like speedometers or compasses, many others operate flexibly, each one encoding a dynamic mix of navigational variables, like a compass that somehow transforms into a GPS when driving downtown.
The project began in 2014, when Lisa Giocomo, an assistant professor of neurobiology in the School of Medicine and member of Stanford Bio-X, and Surya Ganguli, an assistant professor of applied physics, got a Bio-X seed grant to take a closer look at how the brain finds its way around.
