BRUSSELS
Three scientists who discovered how animals map their environment have received the Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine, the prize’s committee announced Monday.
John O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser were awarded for separate research into how the brain creates a map, allowing animals to recognize their environment and navigate from one place to another.
O’Keefe, a neuroscience professor at University College London, discovered the brain cells that recognize location in 1971.
Husband and wife team the Mosers discovered grid cells, a navigation system that tells animals where they are, where they have been and where they are going, during research at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim in 2005.
A press release issued by the Nobel Committee said: “The discoveries of John O ́Keefe, May‐Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries - how does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?”
The scientists discovered how rats determine their location and how to navigate, paving the way for understanding how the human brain works when it creates a mental map.
The committee added: ''The discovery of the brain’s positioning system represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of how ensembles of specialized cells work together to execute higher cognitive functions.
“It has opened new avenues for understanding other cognitive processes, such as memory, thinking and planning.”
www.aa.com.tr/en
