The case in summary Researchers have identified an area of the brain, the retrosplenial cortex, which plays a key role in our ability to remember and predict the location of objects. The research can contribute to a better understanding of how healthy brains store information about objects, which can be useful in the development of new treatment methods for memory loss. The retrosplenial cortex is one of the first brain regions to be affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s, so the research may also have an impact on the understanding of these diseases. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. How do you remember where you put things? The video you see at the top of the case is from a mouse brain. The glowing points are nerve cells in an area of the brain that light up when the mouse approaches objects it knows where. – This strongly points to the fact that precisely these neurons play a key role in our ability to remember and predict the location of objects. That’s what Koen Vervaeke says. He is leading a new study that has found out more about how our brain remembers where we put things. – The studies show how the brain stores the location of things, says associate professor Koen Vervaeke at the University of Oslo Photo: Private The area where these nerve cells are located is called the retrosplenial cortex. When the researchers examined the nerve cells there more closely, they discovered two very important things. – Firstly, some of these neurons actually predicted where an object was before the mice were physically close to the object. Second, these neurons continued to be active even when the object was removed. Can measure more accurately on mice In the brain, a physical change occurs when we store things. The connections between brain cells are strengthened, and a mental map is drawn. – Previous studies have observed the brain patterns of blind people, but the methods that can be used on people are limited. They do not show how networks of individual brain cells cooperate to store object locations, says Koen Vervaeke. Therefore, the researchers turned their attention to mice. Research on mice gives more accurate results than on humans. Photo: Geir Mogen In the study, the mice were able to move and explore objects in the dark. While the mice explored their surroundings, the researchers used advanced laser scanning microscopes to measure the activity of thousands of individual brain cells in the mice’s brains. Sometimes it is difficult to remember where you have stored things, but now researchers know where in the brain the information about it is stored. Photo: malgorzata tatarynowicz A piece of the puzzle The retrosplenial cortex is one of the first brain regions to be affected by diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Therefore, it is perhaps not surprising that constantly forgetting where you put your keys can be an early warning sign of such diseases. The aim of the study is to gain a better understanding of how healthy brains store information about objects. It can contribute to the development of new treatment methods for memory loss, says first author on the study Andreas Lande. – The Alzheimer’s puzzle is a puzzle and this is basic research. We may have just found a blue puzzle piece in a big puzzle of sea and sky, but we are finally getting closer to a solution. The results of the study are another small piece in the puzzle that can solve the Alzheimer’s riddle, believes Andreas Sigstad Lande. Photo: UiO
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