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Sokoloski S, Aschner A, Coen-Cagli R. Modelling the neural code in large populations of correlated neurons. eLife 2021; 10:64615. [PMID: 34608865 PMCID: PMC8577837 DOI: 10.7554/elife.64615] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2020] [Accepted: 10/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Neurons respond selectively to stimuli, and thereby define a code that associates stimuli with population response patterns. Certain correlations within population responses (noise correlations) significantly impact the information content of the code, especially in large populations. Understanding the neural code thus necessitates response models that quantify the coding properties of modelled populations, while fitting large-scale neural recordings and capturing noise correlations. In this paper, we propose a class of response model based on mixture models and exponential families. We show how to fit our models with expectation-maximization, and that they capture diverse variability and covariability in recordings of macaque primary visual cortex. We also show how they facilitate accurate Bayesian decoding, provide a closed-form expression for the Fisher information, and are compatible with theories of probabilistic population coding. Our framework could allow researchers to quantitatively validate the predictions of neural coding theories against both large-scale neural recordings and cognitive performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sacha Sokoloski
- Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States.,Institute for Ophthalmic Research, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Amir Aschner
- Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States
| | - Ruben Coen-Cagli
- Department of Systems and Computational Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States.,Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, United States
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2
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Nagele J, Herz AVM, Stemmler MB. Untethered firing fields and intermittent silences: Why grid-cell discharge is so variable. Hippocampus 2020; 30:367-383. [PMID: 32045073 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 12/20/2019] [Accepted: 12/31/2019] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Grid cells in medial entorhinal cortex are notoriously variable in their responses, despite the striking hexagonal arrangement of their spatial firing fields. Indeed, when the animal moves through a firing field, grid cells often fire much more vigorously than predicted or do not fire at all. The source of this trial-to-trial variability is not completely understood. By analyzing grid-cell spike trains from mice running in open arenas and on linear tracks, we characterize the phenomenon of "missed" firing fields using the statistical theory of zero inflation. We find that one major cause of grid-cell variability lies in the spatial representation itself: firing fields are not as strongly anchored to spatial location as the averaged grid suggests. In addition, grid fields from different cells drift together from trial to trial, regardless of whether the environment is real or virtual, or whether the animal moves in light or darkness. Spatial realignment across trials sharpens the grid representation, yielding firing fields that are more pronounced and significantly narrower. These findings indicate that ensembles of grid cells encode relative position more reliably than absolute position.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Nagele
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich and Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Andreas V M Herz
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich and Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Martin B Stemmler
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Munich and Faculty of Biology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany
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3
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Bellmund JLS, de Cothi W, Ruiter TA, Nau M, Barry C, Doeller CF. Deforming the metric of cognitive maps distorts memory. Nat Hum Behav 2020; 4:177-188. [PMID: 31740749 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0767-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Accepted: 10/04/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
Environmental boundaries anchor cognitive maps that support memory. However, trapezoidal boundary geometry distorts the regular firing patterns of entorhinal grid cells, proposedly providing a metric for cognitive maps. Here we test the impact of trapezoidal boundary geometry on human spatial memory using immersive virtual reality. Consistent with reduced regularity of grid patterns in rodents and a grid-cell model based on the eigenvectors of the successor representation, human positional memory was degraded in a trapezoid environment compared with a square environment-an effect that was particularly pronounced in the narrow part of the trapezoid. Congruent with changes in the spatial frequency of eigenvector grid patterns, distance estimates between remembered positions were persistently biased, revealing distorted memory maps that explained behaviour better than the objective maps. Our findings demonstrate that environmental geometry affects human spatial memory in a similar manner to rodent grid-cell activity and, therefore, strengthen the putative link between grid cells and behaviour along with their cognitive functions beyond navigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob L S Bellmund
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
| | - William de Cothi
- Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, University College London, London, UK
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Tom A Ruiter
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Matthias Nau
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Caswell Barry
- Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Christian F Doeller
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
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4
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Bellmund JLS, Gärdenfors P, Moser EI, Doeller CF. Navigating cognition: Spatial codes for human thinking. Science 2019; 362:362/6415/eaat6766. [PMID: 30409861 DOI: 10.1126/science.aat6766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 234] [Impact Index Per Article: 46.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The hippocampal formation has long been suggested to underlie both memory formation and spatial navigation. We discuss how neural mechanisms identified in spatial navigation research operate across information domains to support a wide spectrum of cognitive functions. In our framework, place and grid cell population codes provide a representational format to map variable dimensions of cognitive spaces. This highly dynamic mapping system enables rapid reorganization of codes through remapping between orthogonal representations across behavioral contexts, yielding a multitude of stable cognitive spaces at different resolutions and hierarchical levels. Action sequences result in trajectories through cognitive space, which can be simulated via sequential coding in the hippocampus. In this way, the spatial representational format of the hippocampal formation has the capacity to support flexible cognition and behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob L S Bellmund
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. .,Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Peter Gärdenfors
- Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.,Centre for Artificial Intelligence, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Edvard I Moser
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Christian F Doeller
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. .,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Glasauer S, Dieterich M, Brandt T. Computational neurology of gravity perception involving semicircular canal dysfunction in unilateral vestibular lesions. PROGRESS IN BRAIN RESEARCH 2019; 248:303-317. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.pbr.2019.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
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6
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Kornienko O, Latuske P, Bassler M, Kohler L, Allen K. Non-rhythmic head-direction cells in the parahippocampal region are not constrained by attractor network dynamics. eLife 2018; 7:35949. [PMID: 30222110 PMCID: PMC6158010 DOI: 10.7554/elife.35949] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 08/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Computational models postulate that head-direction (HD) cells are part of an attractor network integrating head turns. This network requires inputs from visual landmarks to anchor the HD signal to the external world. We investigated whether information about HD and visual landmarks is integrated in the medial entorhinal cortex and parasubiculum, resulting in neurons expressing a conjunctive code for HD and visual landmarks. We found that parahippocampal HD cells could be divided into two classes based on their theta-rhythmic activity: non-rhythmic and theta-rhythmic HD cells. Manipulations of the visual landmarks caused tuning curve alterations in most HD cells, with the largest visually driven changes observed in non-rhythmic HD cells. Importantly, the tuning modifications of non-rhythmic HD cells were often non-coherent across cells, refuting the notion that attractor-like dynamics control non-rhythmic HD cells. These findings reveal a new population of non-rhythmic HD cells whose malleable organization is controlled by visual landmarks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Kornienko
- Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Patrick Latuske
- Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Mathis Bassler
- Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Laura Kohler
- Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Kevin Allen
- Department of Clinical Neurobiology, Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University and German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany
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Grid-Cell Activity on Linear Tracks Indicates Purely Translational Remapping of 2D Firing Patterns at Movement Turning Points. J Neurosci 2018; 38:7004-7011. [PMID: 29976622 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0413-18.2018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Revised: 06/21/2018] [Accepted: 06/24/2018] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Grid cells in rodent medial entorhinal cortex are thought to play a critical role for spatial navigation. When the animal is freely moving in an open arena the firing fields of each grid cell tend to form a hexagonal lattice spanning the environment. For movements along a linear track the cells seem to respond differently. They show multiple firing fields that are not periodically arranged and whose shape and position change when the running direction is reversed. In addition, peak firing rates vary widely from field to field. Measured along one running direction only, firing fields are, however, compatible with a slice through a two-dimensional (2D) hexagonal pattern. It is an open question, whether this is also true if leftward and rightward runs are jointly considered. By analyzing data from 15 male Long-Evans rats, we show that a single hexagonal firing pattern explains the linear-track data if translational shifts of the pattern are allowed at the movement turning points. A rotation or scaling of the grid is not required. The agreement is further improved if the peak firing rates of the underlying 2D grid fields can vary from field to field, as suggested by recent studies. These findings have direct consequences for experiments using linear tracks in virtual reality.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Various types of neurons support spatial navigation. Their response properties are often studied in reduced settings and might change when the animal can freely explore its environment. Grid cells in rodents, for example, exhibit seemingly irregular firing fields when animal movement is restricted to a linear track but highly regular patterns in two-dimensional (2D) arenas. We show that linear-track responses of a cell for both leftward and rightward running directions can be explained as cuts through a single hexagonal pattern if translational remapping is allowed at movement turning points; neither rotations nor scale transformations are needed. These results provide a basis to quantify grid-cell activity in 1D virtual reality and could help to detect and categorize grid cells without experiments in 2D environments.
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