STOCKHOLM, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- Three scientists shared the 2014 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, it was announced Monday.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute has decided to award one half of the physiology or medicine prize to John O'Keefe and the other half jointly to May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for their discovery of cells that constitute a positioning system in the brain.
According to a statement, this year's laureates have discovered an "inner GPS" in the brain that "makes it possible to orient ourselves in space, demonstrating a cellular basis for higher cognitive function."
O'Keefe discovered in 1971 that certain nerve cells in the brain are activated when a rat assumes a particular place in the environment, while other nerve cells are activated at other places, the statement said.
He proposed that these "place cells" build up an inner map of the environment. Place cells are located in a part of the brain called the hippocampus.
In 2005, May-Britt and Edvard Moser discovered that other nerve cells in a nearby part of the brain, the entorhinal cortex, are activated when a rat passed certain locations.
Together, these locations formed a hexagonal grid, with each "grid cell" reacting in a unique spatial pattern. Collectively, these grid cells form a coordinate system that allows for spatial navigation.
Such discoveries "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," said the statement.
O'Keefe was born in New York City in 1939 and holds both American and British citizenship. He is currently director of the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behavior at University College London.
May-Britt and Edvard Moser, a Norwegian couple, were born in 1963 and 1962 respectively. Edvard is currently director of the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience in Trondheim, while May-Britt is director of the Centre for Neural Computation in Trondheim.
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