Newly Discovered “Grid Cell” May Serve as the Brain’s GPS

Researchers have identified a new type of brain cell that helps people maintain a sense of direction, allowing them to keep track of their relative location while in an unfamiliar place. The grid cell, as it is called, helps the brain assess navigational clues such as an individual’s distance from the starting point or the most recent point at which they made a turn. “The present finding of grid cells in the human brain, together with the earlier discovery of human hippocampal ‘place cells,’ which fire at single locations, provide compelling evidence for a common mapping and navigational system preserved across humans and lower animals,” the study’s senior author says. Click here to read the full article.