United States Co-Investigators Please read the Physiology section to obtain background information on this experiment. The hippocampus is another area of the brain that employs input from the inner ear. The hippocampus uses information on head movements and direction to determine location. When an individual with Alzheimer's disease leaves the house and is then unable to find the way home, it is a result of the loss of spatial memory, or the sense of location.
Spatial memory is thought to reside in the hippocampus.
Neuroscientists find increasing evidence of the importance of this structure in the formation and processing of memory. It is also directly linked with fibers conveying sensory inputs, such as touch, vision, sound and smell, as well as with portions of the brain which control emotion. Dr. McNaughton and his group will address the basic science question of how animals navigate on Earth. The weightless environment of the Shuttle will be sued to compare two of the major systems the brain uses in spatial orientation-vision and the vestibular system. During the experiment, rats will run a track called the Escher Staircase, that guides the rat along a path such that it returns to its starting location after having made only three 90 degree right turns.