Your Brain's Many Maps: Self-Location In Multiple Mind Modules
Rather than just a single sense of location, the brain has a number of "modules" dedicated to self-location. Each module contains its own internal GPS-like mapping system that keeps track of movement, and has other characteristics that also distinguishes one from another. How many different sense of location? It's unclear. At least four and perhaps as many as 10, according to new research from the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. They say this is also the first time that researchers have been able to show that a part of the brain that does not directly respond to sensory input, called the association cortex, is organized into modules. The research was conducted using rats. read more