Scientists have identified a “dial” in the human brain that ramps up when we explore a new area — and the finding could help us understand why getting lost is often an early symptom of dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease.
Imagine you’re walking a well-worn route home, but you accidentally take a wrong turn. It doesn’t take long for your brain to sound alarms to tell you that you’ve gotten lost.
The new study, published Dec. 4 in the journal Nature Communications, combined high-powered brain imaging and virtual reality (VR) to reveal what happens in the brain when we explore both familiar and unfamiliar environments.
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