NOBEL GPS OF BRAIN

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2014

Photo: David Bishop, UCL

John O'Keefe

Prize share: 1/2

Photo: G. Mogen/NTNU

May-Britt Moser

Prize share: 1/4

Photo: G. Mogen/NTNU

Edvard I. Moser

Prize share: 1/4

The 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or 

Medicine has been  awarded to Dr. John M. O’Keefe, 

Dr. May-Britt Moser and Dr. Edvard I. 

Moser for their discoveries of nerve cells in 

the brain that enable a sense of place and 

navigation. These discoveries are ground

breaking and provide insights into how 

mental functions are represented in the 

brain and how the brain can compute

complex cognitive functions and behaviour. 

An internal map of the environment and a

sense of place are needed for recognizing 

and remembering our environment and for 

navigation. This navigational ability, which 

requires integration of multi-modal sensory 

information, movement execution and 

memory capacities, is one of the most 

complex of brain functions. 

The work of the 

2014 Laureates has radically altered our 

understanding of these functions.

 John O’Keefe discovered place cells in the 

hippocampus that signal position and

provide the brain with spatial memory 

capacity.

 May-Britt Moser and Edvard I. 

Moser discovered in the medial entorhinal 

cortex, a region of the brain next to 

hippocampus, grid cells that provide the 

brain with an internal coordinate system

essential for navigation. 

Together, the 

hippocampal place cells and the entorhinal 

grid cells form interconnected nerve cell 

networks that are critical for the 

computation of spatial maps and 

navigational tasks. 

The work by John 

O’Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser 

has dramatically changed our 

understanding of how fundamental 

cognitive functions are performed by neural 

circuits in the brain and shed new light onto 

how spatial memory might be created.

SOURCE :http://www.nobelprize.org/