The "inner GPS", as it is christened, helps explain how the brain creates "a map of the space surrounding us and how we can navigate our way through a complex environment," the Nobel Assembly said.
It has been learnt that O'Keefe, of University College London, discovered the first component of this positioning system in 1971 when he found that a certain type of nerve cell in an area of the brain called the hippocampus was always activated when a rat was at a certain place in a room.
Other nerve cells were activated when the rat was at other places.
O´Keefe concluded that these “place cells” formed a map of the room.
34 years later May-Britt and Edvard Moser, of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, identified another type of nerve cell that generates a coordinate system for precise path-finding, the assembly said.
While, O’Keefe is being honored for his discovery of so-called place cells in 1971, the Mosers are recognised for their work identifying these as “grid cells.”
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska institute’s note said that knowledge about the brain's positioning system may "help us understand the mechamism under-pinning the devastating spatial memory loss" that affects people with Alzheimer's disease.
“The discoveries of John O´Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser have solved a problem that has occupied philosophers and scientists for centuries,” the Nobel Foundation noted in its press release announcing the award: “How does the brain create a map of the space surrounding us and how can we navigate our way through a complex environment?”
The Nobel awards in physics, chemistry, literature and peace will be announced later this week.
The economics prize will be announced next Monday.
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