Small brains can accomplish big things, according to new theoretical research
Neuroscientists had a problem.
For decades, researchers had a theory about how an animal’s brain keeps track of where it is relative to its surroundings without outside cues – like how we know where we are, even with our eyes closed.
According to the theory, which was based on brain recordings from rodents, networks of neurons called ring attractor networks maintain an internal compass that keeps track of where you are in the world. An accurate internal compass was thought to require a large network with many neurons, while a small network with few neurons would cause the compass’s needle to drift, creating errors.
Then researchers discovered an internal compass ...











