We treat homes as our mental and physical shelters. Whenever you feel tired, you just want to relax in your bed. We wish to hide in our own rooms to escape a stressful situation. Turns out, it is not a coincidence that life’s stressors drive us back to our very own “safe space”. A recent study on mice revealed that some parts of the brain, after receiving proper signals, directed them to their “safe space” using memories of the whereabouts of it based on the surrounding environments.

Researchers from various universities across America set out to study the brain’s mechanisms for navigating towards a destination when needed. They placed mice in a defined area and record their escape behaviour, and continuously adjusted the environments around the mice. These mice were genetically modified and connected to glass fibres that bounce back laser beams, which can be used to monitor changes in brain region activities, to extract the data related to their brain activities.

During the experiment, the researchers adjusted the environment where the mice were staying in, often changing the locations of the shelter or remove it entirely. To scare the mice back to their shelters, the researchers used visual signals as well as sounds. These stimulations were then given in different combinations to study if the mice would react any differently. They found that the cells in a certain part of the brain called the ventral tegmental area act in a certain fashion to generate a spatial memory of the shelter location. Another part of the brain, the nucleus accumbens, forms a command centre with other regions to direct the behaviour towards a certain goal; in the case of this experiment, the captain of the ship uses the special map remembered by the brain earlier to achieve the goal of escaping the adverse signals and hurry back to the shelter.

It was proposed following the experiment that when the brain is facing a distress call, multiple brain regions work in conjunction to direct the behavioural outcome with a certain objective in mind, allowing an escape from the potential threats. The brain also relies on a virtual map of the area, and the map is accessed whenever the brain determines that there is a need to get back to safety.

The study helped establish that the brain contains an automatic response mechanism that considers the spatial information of the pre-determined safe location. The brain would then direct specific destination-focused tasks to achieve the objective. So, knowing that the brain can recruit its regions to help you map out your own shelter and the surroundings, the next time when you are planning your escape, your brain will work extra hard to navigate you out of danger and back to safety.