We are very good at wayfinding, i.e. find our way home, remember our favorite places or forget places without difficulty.
That is, even without a smartphone, we can easily do the most difficult tasks of navigation. But why does this happen? Its secret has been known by scientists.
In fact, our brains have a natural compass that works like a GPS.
Scientists have discovered a part of the brain that acts like a compass to help us find our way around the environment. This part of the brain sends electrical signals to nerve cells to tell them where to take a new path. To go aside.
This was discovered in a joint study by the University of Birmingham in the UK and the Ludwig Maximilian University in Germany.
Identifying pathways is critical for us, and even the slightest miscalculation can be catastrophic, the researchers said. We already know that such natural systems of pathways exist in birds, mice and bats, they added. But surprisingly, we know very little about this ability of the human brain.
In this study, 52 healthy people were included and EEG monitors were installed on their heads to monitor the brain activity while walking. Apart from this, 10 people with various mental diseases were also monitored. and directed them to follow different paths.
With the help of both experiments, scientists were able to identify brain signals that determine direction. Researchers believe that these signals act like an internal brain compass to help us find our way.
“These signals helped us focus on brain navigation processes and discover how these signals interact with vision,” he said.
He said that the research will help in the future to know about the diseases that cause brain degeneration while it will also be possible to improve the navigation technologies of robots or artificial intelligence technology.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.
