A central task of the brain is to enable living beings to navigate their environment flexibly. Navigation involves making decisions about when, how, where, or whether to move—and requires an internal sense of one’s position in the surrounding space. While it is known that various brain regions work together during navigation, the role of a specific midbrain area—the so-called superior colliculus—has so far been little explored. The team led by Matthew Larkum, Professor at the Institute of Biology at Humboldt University of Berlin, and Ariel Gilad, Assistant Professor of Medical Neurobiology at HUJI, is now investigating the hypothesis that feedback signals from this region are crucial for selecting and predicting movements. The project builds on the concept of circular feedback loops in the brain, developed in Berlin and based on the work of Livia de Hoz (Charité). The goal is to gain a deeper understanding of the neural mechanisms that guide navigation and goal-directed behavior in everyday life.
Funding period: 11/2025 to 10/2028
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Matthew Larkum
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Head of Larkum Lab
Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Charité Cross Over - Campus Mitte
Charitéplatz 1
10117 Berlin
Applicant: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Partner: Hebrew University of Jerusalem