Through his research, Prof. Kunz aims to understand how individual neurons in the human brain support our experience and behavior. A particular focus is on the question of how we perceive our environment from our own perspective and orient ourselves within it. His ERC-funded project, “Making sense of space: Uncovering the roles of egocentric neurons for spatial behavior in humans (NEUROSPACE),” forms the core of his research vision: Prof. Kunz, who is also a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) “Life and Health” at the University of Bonn, is conducting the first comprehensive study of the nerve cells that may represent this first-person perspective in the brain, thereby providing new insights into fundamental mechanisms of human cognition. “We assume that specific neurons in the brain are involved in this process, known as egocentric neurons,” explains Prof. Kunz. “These neurons could represent the position of other people, objects, landmarks, and targets relative to one’s own body, thereby generating an internal map of the environment from one’s own perspective.”

Neurons for Spatial Perception

To investigate this hypothesis, Prof. Kunz’s research team benefits from ideal conditions in Bonn. As one of Germany’s leading epilepsy centers, the Department of Epileptology at UKB, led by Prof. Rainer Surges, has a unique infrastructure for recording the activity of individual nerve cells in humans. The single-cell recording techniques, established in Bonn by Prof. Florian Mormann, provide detailed insights into the processes occurring in the human brain. “The close integration of clinical care and basic neuroscientific research enables us to address research questions that can be investigated at only a few locations worldwide,” says Prof. Kunz. As part of the study, the researchers measure the activity of individual neurons in epilepsy patients who already have electrodes implanted in their brains for medical reasons. During these recordings, the patients perform various tasks both in the real world and in virtual environments. Through this, the researchers aim to understand the role that egocentric neurons play in perception, orientation, navigation, memory, and even in understanding spatial language.

“I’m motivated by the question of how complex mental processes arise from the activity of individual neurons. Spatial orientation is a particularly fascinating example of this because it is part of our daily lives and, at the same time, still leaves many scientific questions unanswered,” says Prof. Kunz. “My goal is to uncover fundamental principles of brain function and, in the long term, to apply these findings to our understanding of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, in which orientation and memory are impaired.”