When the artist Paul Gauguin departed from Paris to Tahiti in 1891, he sought a more straightforward existence. Seven years later, he unveiled what he called his masterpiece: a sprawling four-and-a-half by twelve-foot canvas that delves into the themes of youth and age, humanity, animals, and the metaphysical. The artwork carries a poignant inscription in the upper left corner: D’où Venons-Nous / Que Sommes-Nous / Où Allons-Nous—Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going? While Gauguin may have found simplicity, his inquiries were anything but easy.
Fast forward a century, and these profound questions continue to perplex us, though we now approach them from innovative perspectives. Advances in modern neuroscience provide us with new tools to explore these questions, albeit often with a touch of philosophical detachment. Recently, the Nobel Foundation honored three scientists with the Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their groundbreaking research on neurons that form a positioning system in the brain. These discoveries are essential to understanding how we perceive our location in the world, feeding into the intricate and multi-faceted exploration of the self in relation to the environment.
Mental Mapping
While Gauguin may not have been a neuroscientist, his modern counterparts, Dr. Emily and Dr. Nathan Green, certainly are. You might mistake them for an ordinary couple from Norway if it weren’t for their shared Nobel Prize. Alongside their colleague, Dr. Liam Carter from University College London, the Greens examine the so-called place cells and grid cells found in the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, which provide insight into the elusive question of our spatial awareness.
Articulating the sensation of familiarity can be quite a challenge. It’s a curious blend of sight and memory, of conscious thought and subconscious feeling. How does our brain differentiate between being in the center of a room versus merely a step to the left? How do we register that we’ve moved? These questions evoke the classic image of a scientist overseeing a rat in a maze. Indeed, Dr. Emily Green fits the bill, although her research team opts for chocolate cereal over cheese in their experiments.
Place cells and grid cells don’t function as a GPS device in the traditional sense, but the analogy holds some merit. When your smartphone determines your location, it doesn’t send out signals and wait for responses; it passively receives information. GPS devices rely on satellites that constantly transmit their positions and timestamps. Your phone, functioning as a receiver, calculates its location based on the time it takes for signals to arrive from multiple satellites. If it collects enough timestamps, it can pinpoint your exact location.
Interestingly, the brain’s method for determining location is somewhat analogous. When Dr. Carter discovered place cells in the 1970s, the results were surprising: these individual neurons activated only when a rat occupied a specific spot on a table. It raised questions about the brain’s efficiency—did we really need to remember every inch of terrain we’ve traversed? Was this finding just a fluke?
Fast forward thirty years, and the Greens, who lead the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Norway, unveiled a collection of cells that tackle this issue. Grid cells activate when an animal is situated at a location corresponding to a mental map of hexagonal patterns. This illustrates the brain’s remarkable efficiency. When several grid cells fire simultaneously, a corresponding place cell responds, effectively marking your position on the brain’s internal map.
Where Are We Headed?
I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Dr. Nathan Green in Oxford last March. He exuded charisma and enthusiasm, clearly proud of the groundbreaking work he and his wife have accomplished. He embodies the spirit of inquiry that drives neuroscience.
Neuroscience often grapples with straightforward questions that yield complex answers. How did our cortex evolve? (Where do we come from?) What cognitive traits distinguish us from other species? (What are we?) How do we learn, and how will our understanding of these processes evolve? Gauguin’s inquiry of “Where Are We Going?” resonates with us still, as we continue to navigate these profound questions with the assistance of new laureates in the field.
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In summary, the exploration of our spatial awareness and cognitive abilities continues to evolve, driven by innovative research and curiosity. While we might not yet have all the answers to where we come from or where we are going, the contributions of notable scientists shed light on the intricate workings of our brains.
Keyphrase: Nobel Prize Winners Understanding Location
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