How the Brain Perceives and Remembers a New Place
Featured Neuroscience·August 24, 2021
Summary: Combining virtual reality with neuroimaging, researchers identify how the brain perceives and remembers a novel place or landscape.
Source: NTNU
Surprising discovery #1: We remember where, but not what
It turned out that the subjects had an easier time remembering where things were placed than exactly what things were placed in each location.
Surprising discovery #2: Good networks mean everything
Their research also revealed that more parts of the brain than previously thought are involved in remembering a new landscape.
Areas that are important for sight and feelings are also important for remembering a new place.
“Effective networks are crucial for how well you remember positions and objects in a new place,” Evensmoen says.
Surprising discovery #3: The brain worked mostly during rest
The experiment also showed that brain activity increased and that even more connections in the brain were activated during the rest period after participants had finished moving around each room.
“A secondary finding in our research was that the participants’ brain activity was greater when they were resting than when they moved around the rooms. The brain continued to work on establishing a cognitive map even though they no longer were moving around in the environment,” say Evensmoen and Håberg. They say this a very interesting discovery and that it fits well with previous knowledge.
“What you experience during the day continues to consolidate in the brain when you sleep. Taking a nap in the middle of the day strengthens memory,” Håberg adds.
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