Place cell
Célula de lugar
- Date
- 1971 · confidence high
- Place
- London, England, United Kingdom
- Credited to
- John O'Keefe
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
John O'Keefe identified neurons in the rat hippocampus that fire only when the animal is in a specific location, revealing the brain's "cognitive map" for space.
What it led to
- Discovery of grid cells
- Neuroscience of spatial memory
- Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2014)
- Navigation models in robotics