Navigating "Neuralville": Virtual town helps map brain functions

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October 7, 2019

Imaging Neuroscience

Basic Research

Grantee

Using a virtual town and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), psychologists at Emory University have found that the human brain uses three distinct systems to perceive our environment — one for recognizing a place, another for navigating through that place, and a third for navigating from one place to another. The results, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), have implications ranging from more precise guidance for neurosurgeons to better computer vision systems for self-driving cars.