1
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Wen JH, Sorscher B, Aery Jones EA, Ganguli S, Giocomo LM. One-shot entorhinal maps enable flexible navigation in novel environments. Nature 2024:10.1038/s41586-024-08034-3. [PMID: 39385034 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08034-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/10/2024] [Indexed: 10/11/2024]
Abstract
Animals must navigate changing environments to find food, shelter or mates. In mammals, grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex construct a neural spatial map of the external environment1-5. However, how grid cell firing patterns rapidly adapt to novel or changing environmental features on a timescale relevant to behaviour remains unknown. Here, by recording over 15,000 grid cells in mice navigating virtual environments, we tracked the real-time state of the grid cell network. This allowed us to observe and predict how altering environmental features influenced grid cell firing patterns on a nearly instantaneous timescale. We found evidence that visual landmarks provide inputs to fixed points in the grid cell network. This resulted in stable grid cell firing patterns in novel and altered environments after a single exposure. Fixed visual landmark inputs also influenced the grid cell network such that altering landmarks induced distortions in grid cell firing patterns. Such distortions could be predicted by a computational model with a fixed landmark to grid cell network architecture. Finally, a medial entorhinal cortex-dependent task revealed that although grid cell firing patterns are distorted by landmark changes, behaviour can adapt via a downstream region implementing behavioural timescale synaptic plasticity6. Overall, our findings reveal how the navigational system of the brain constructs spatial maps that balance rapidity and accuracy. Fixed connections between landmarks and grid cells enable the brain to quickly generate stable spatial maps, essential for navigation in novel or changing environments. Conversely, plasticity in regions downstream from grid cells allows the spatial maps of the brain to more accurately mirror the external spatial environment. More generally, these findings raise the possibility of a broader neural principle: by allocating fixed and plastic connectivity across different networks, the brain can solve problems requiring both rapidity and representational accuracy.
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Affiliation(s)
- John H Wen
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ben Sorscher
- Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Emily A Aery Jones
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Surya Ganguli
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
- Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Lisa M Giocomo
- Department of Neurobiology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA, Stanford, USA.
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2
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Long X, Wang X, Deng B, Shen R, Lv SQ, Zhang SJ. Intrinsic Bipolar Head-Direction Cells in the Medial Entorhinal Cortex. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2024:e2401216. [PMID: 39206928 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202401216] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 08/08/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Head-direction (HD) cells are a fundamental component in the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit for spatial navigation and help maintain an internal sense of direction to anchor the orientation in space. A classical HD cell robustly increases its firing rate when the head is oriented toward a specific direction, with each cell tuned to only one direction. Although unidirectional HD cells are reported broadly across multiple brain regions, computation modelling has predicted the existence of multiple equilibrium states of HD network, which has yet to be proven. In this study, a novel HD variant of bipolar HD cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) are identified that exhibit stable double-peaked directional tuning properties. The bipolar patterns remain stable in the darkness and across environments of distinct geometric shapes. Moreover, bipolar HD cells co-rotate coherently with unipolar HD cells to anchor the external visual cue. The discovery reveals a new spatial cell type of bipolar HD cells, whose unique activity patterns may comprise a potential building block for a sophisticated local neural circuit configuration for the internal representation of direction. These findings may contribute to the understanding of how the brain processes spatial information by shedding light on the role of bipolar HD cells in this process.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyang Long
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China
| | - Xiaoxia Wang
- Department of Basic Psychology, School of Psychology, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400038, China
| | - Bin Deng
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China
| | - Rui Shen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China
| | - Sheng-Qing Lv
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China
| | - Sheng-Jia Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xinqiao Hospital, Army Medical University, Chongqing, 400037, China
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3
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Kymn CJ, Mazelet S, Thomas A, Kleyko D, Frady EP, Sommer FT, Olshausen BA. Binding in hippocampal-entorhinal circuits enables compositionality in cognitive maps. ARXIV 2024:arXiv:2406.18808v1. [PMID: 38979486 PMCID: PMC11230348] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
We propose a normative model for spatial representation in the hippocampal formation that combines optimality principles, such as maximizing coding range and spatial information per neuron, with an algebraic framework for computing in distributed representation. Spatial position is encoded in a residue number system, with individual residues represented by high-dimensional, complex-valued vectors. These are composed into a single vector representing position by a similarity-preserving, conjunctive vector-binding operation. Self-consistency between the representations of the overall position and of the individual residues is enforced by a modular attractor network whose modules correspond to the grid cell modules in entorhinal cortex. The vector binding operation can also associate different contexts to spatial representations, yielding a model for entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. We show that the model achieves normative desiderata including superlinear scaling of patterns with dimension, robust error correction, and hexagonal, carry-free encoding of spatial position. These properties in turn enable robust path integration and association with sensory inputs. More generally, the model formalizes how compositional computations could occur in the hippocampal formation and leads to testable experimental predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sonia Mazelet
- Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
- Université Paris-Saclay, ENS Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Anthony Thomas
- Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
| | - Denis Kleyko
- Centre for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
| | | | - Friedrich T Sommer
- Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
- Intel Labs, Santa Clara, USA
| | - Bruno A Olshausen
- Redwood Center for Theoretical Neuroscience, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
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4
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Hermansen E, Klindt DA, Dunn BA. Uncovering 2-D toroidal representations in grid cell ensemble activity during 1-D behavior. Nat Commun 2024; 15:5429. [PMID: 38926360 PMCID: PMC11208534 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49703-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 06/13/2024] [Indexed: 06/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Minimal experiments, such as head-fixed wheel-running and sleep, offer experimental advantages but restrict the amount of observable behavior, making it difficult to classify functional cell types. Arguably, the grid cell, and its striking periodicity, would not have been discovered without the perspective provided by free behavior in an open environment. Here, we show that by shifting the focus from single neurons to populations, we change the minimal experimental complexity required. We identify grid cell modules and show that the activity covers a similar, stable toroidal state space during wheel running as in open field foraging. Trajectories on grid cell tori correspond to single trial runs in virtual reality and path integration in the dark, and the alignment of the representation rapidly shifts with changes in experimental conditions. Thus, we provide a methodology to discover and study complex internal representations in even the simplest of experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Hermansen
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
| | - David A Klindt
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, Laurel Hollow, New York, USA
| | - Benjamin A Dunn
- Department of Mathematical Sciences, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway.
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5
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Fenton AA. Remapping revisited: how the hippocampus represents different spaces. Nat Rev Neurosci 2024; 25:428-448. [PMID: 38714834 DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00817-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024]
Abstract
The representation of distinct spaces by hippocampal place cells has been linked to changes in their place fields (the locations in the environment where the place cells discharge strongly), a phenomenon that has been termed 'remapping'. Remapping has been assumed to be accompanied by the reorganization of subsecond cofiring relationships among the place cells, potentially maximizing hippocampal information coding capacity. However, several observations challenge this standard view. For example, place cells exhibit mixed selectivity, encode non-positional variables, can have multiple place fields and exhibit unreliable discharge in fixed environments. Furthermore, recent evidence suggests that, when measured at subsecond timescales, the moment-to-moment cofiring of a pair of cells in one environment is remarkably similar in another environment, despite remapping. Here, I propose that remapping is a misnomer for the changes in place fields across environments and suggest instead that internally organized manifold representations of hippocampal activity are actively registered to different environments to enable navigation, promote memory and organize knowledge.
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Affiliation(s)
- André A Fenton
- Center for Neural Science, New York University, New York, NY, USA.
- Neuroscience Institute at the NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
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6
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Yang X, Cacucci F, Burgess N, Wills TJ, Chen G. Visual boundary cues suffice to anchor place and grid cells in virtual reality. Curr Biol 2024; 34:2256-2264.e3. [PMID: 38701787 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.04.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
Abstract
The hippocampal formation contains neurons responsive to an animal's current location and orientation, which together provide the organism with a neural map of space.1,2,3 Spatially tuned neurons rely on external landmark cues and internally generated movement information to estimate position.4,5 An important class of landmark cue are the boundaries delimiting an environment, which can define place cell field position6,7 and stabilize grid cell firing.8 However, the precise nature of the sensory information used to detect boundaries remains unknown. We used 2-dimensional virtual reality (VR)9 to show that visual cues from elevated walls surrounding the environment are both sufficient and necessary to stabilize place and grid cell responses in VR, when only visual and self-motion cues are available. By contrast, flat boundaries formed by the edges of a textured floor did not stabilize place and grid cells, indicating only specific forms of visual boundary stabilize hippocampal spatial firing. Unstable grid cells retain internally coherent, hexagonally arranged firing fields, but these fields "drift" with respect to the virtual environment over periods >5 s. Optic flow from a virtual floor does not slow drift dynamics, emphasizing the importance of boundary-related visual information. Surprisingly, place fields are more stable close to boundaries even with floor and wall cues removed, suggesting invisible boundaries are inferred using the motion of a discrete, separate cue (a beacon signaling reward location). Subsets of place cells show allocentric directional tuning toward the beacon, with strength of tuning correlating with place field stability when boundaries are removed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiuting Yang
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Francesca Cacucci
- Department of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Neil Burgess
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AZ, UK; Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK
| | - Thomas Joseph Wills
- Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
| | - Guifen Chen
- School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, 327 Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK.
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7
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Clark H, Nolan MF. Task-anchored grid cell firing is selectively associated with successful path integration-dependent behaviour. eLife 2024; 12:RP89356. [PMID: 38546203 PMCID: PMC10977970 DOI: 10.7554/elife.89356] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/01/2024] Open
Abstract
Grid firing fields have been proposed as a neural substrate for spatial localisation in general or for path integration in particular. To distinguish these possibilities, we investigate firing of grid and non-grid cells in the mouse medial entorhinal cortex during a location memory task. We find that grid firing can either be anchored to the task environment, or can encode distance travelled independently of the task reference frame. Anchoring varied between and within sessions, while spatial firing of non-grid cells was either coherent with the grid population, or was stably anchored to the task environment. We took advantage of the variability in task-anchoring to evaluate whether and when encoding of location by grid cells might contribute to behaviour. We find that when reward location is indicated by a visual cue, performance is similar regardless of whether grid cells are task-anchored or not, arguing against a role for grid representations when location cues are available. By contrast, in the absence of the visual cue, performance was enhanced when grid cells were anchored to the task environment. Our results suggest that anchoring of grid cells to task reference frames selectively enhances performance when path integration is required.
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Affiliation(s)
- Harry Clark
- Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, Hugh Robson Building, University of EdinburghEdinburghUnited Kingdom
| | - Matthew F Nolan
- Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences, Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain, Hugh Robson Building, University of EdinburghEdinburghUnited Kingdom
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8
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Fernandez-Leon JA, Sarramone L. The grid-cell normative model: Unifying 'principles'. Biosystems 2024; 235:105091. [PMID: 38040283 DOI: 10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2023] [Revised: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/03/2023]
Abstract
A normative model for the emergence of entorhinal grid cells in the brain's navigational system has been proposed (Sorscher et al., 2023. Neuron 111, 121-137). Using computational modeling of place-to-grid cell interactions, the authors characterized the fundamental nature of grid cells through information processing. However, the normative model does not consider certain discoveries that complement or contradict the conditions for such emergence. By briefly reviewing current evidence, we draw some implications on the interplay between place cell replay sequences and intrinsic grid cell oscillations related to the hippocampal-entorhinal navigation system that can extend the normative model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose A Fernandez-Leon
- Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA), Fac. Cs. Exactas, INTIA, Tandil, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina; CIFICEN, UNCPBA-CICPBA-CONICET, Tandil, Argentina.
| | - Luca Sarramone
- Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA), Fac. Cs. Exactas, INTIA, Tandil, Argentina; Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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9
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Gonzalo Cogno S, Obenhaus HA, Lautrup A, Jacobsen RI, Clopath C, Andersson SO, Donato F, Moser MB, Moser EI. Minute-scale oscillatory sequences in medial entorhinal cortex. Nature 2024; 625:338-344. [PMID: 38123682 PMCID: PMC10781645 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06864-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023]
Abstract
The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) hosts many of the brain's circuit elements for spatial navigation and episodic memory, operations that require neural activity to be organized across long durations of experience1. Whereas location is known to be encoded by spatially tuned cell types in this brain region2,3, little is known about how the activity of entorhinal cells is tied together over time at behaviourally relevant time scales, in the second-to-minute regime. Here we show that MEC neuronal activity has the capacity to be organized into ultraslow oscillations, with periods ranging from tens of seconds to minutes. During these oscillations, the activity is further organized into periodic sequences. Oscillatory sequences manifested while mice ran at free pace on a rotating wheel in darkness, with no change in location or running direction and no scheduled rewards. The sequences involved nearly the entire cell population, and transcended epochs of immobility. Similar sequences were not observed in neighbouring parasubiculum or in visual cortex. Ultraslow oscillatory sequences in MEC may have the potential to couple neurons and circuits across extended time scales and serve as a template for new sequence formation during navigation and episodic memory formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soledad Gonzalo Cogno
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
| | - Horst A Obenhaus
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Ane Lautrup
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - R Irene Jacobsen
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Claudia Clopath
- Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Sebastian O Andersson
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Flavio Donato
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
- Biozentrum Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - May-Britt Moser
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
| | - Edvard I Moser
- Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Fred Kavli Building, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
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10
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Abstract
Knowing where you are and where you go is a prerequisite for planning a goal-directed journey. The discovery of spatially tuned neurons in the hippocampus and parahippocampal cortices provides a mechanism by which the brain pinpoints an animal’s own position in an environment. By contrast, how the brain encodes a remote navigational goal remained largely obscure until recently. In this review, we discuss algorithmic challenges and requirements for the brain to form a representation of a remote navigational goal at which an animal is not present. We then highlight a line of evidence that neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) represent a goal location persistently while an animal navigates to this destination. Finally, we propose a new perspective of navigation research opened by this recently reported brain’s goal map.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raunak Basu
- Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 9190401, Israel
| | - Hiroshi T. Ito
- Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Frankfurt am Main 60438, Germany
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11
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Schøyen V, Pettersen MB, Holzhausen K, Fyhn M, Malthe-Sørenssen A, Lepperød ME. Coherently remapping toroidal cells but not Grid cells are responsible for path integration in virtual agents. iScience 2023; 26:108102. [PMID: 37867941 PMCID: PMC10589895 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.108102] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 08/25/2023] [Accepted: 09/27/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023] Open
Abstract
It is widely believed that grid cells provide cues for path integration, with place cells encoding an animal's location and environmental identity. When entering a new environment, these cells remap concurrently, sparking debates about their causal relationship. Using a continuous attractor recurrent neural network, we study spatial cell dynamics in multiple environments. We investigate grid cell remapping as a function of global remapping in place-like units through random resampling of place cell centers. Dimensionality reduction techniques reveal that a subset of cells manifest a persistent torus across environments. Unexpectedly, these toroidal cells resemble band-like cells rather than high grid score units. Subsequent pruning studies reveal that toroidal cells are crucial for path integration while grid cells are not. As we extend the model to operate across many environments, we delineate its generalization boundaries, revealing challenges with modeling many environments in current models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vemund Schøyen
- Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0313, Norway
| | | | | | - Marianne Fyhn
- Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0313, Norway
- Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
| | - Anders Malthe-Sørenssen
- Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo 0313, Norway
- Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
| | - Mikkel Elle Lepperød
- Department of Physics, University of Oslo, Oslo 0313, Norway
- Department of Biosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo 0313, Norway
- Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
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12
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Parra-Barrero E, Vijayabaskaran S, Seabrook E, Wiskott L, Cheng S. A map of spatial navigation for neuroscience. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2023; 152:105200. [PMID: 37178943 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2023.105200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2023] [Indexed: 05/15/2023]
Abstract
Spatial navigation has received much attention from neuroscientists, leading to the identification of key brain areas and the discovery of numerous spatially selective cells. Despite this progress, our understanding of how the pieces fit together to drive behavior is generally lacking. We argue that this is partly caused by insufficient communication between behavioral and neuroscientific researchers. This has led the latter to under-appreciate the relevance and complexity of spatial behavior, and to focus too narrowly on characterizing neural representations of space-disconnected from the computations these representations are meant to enable. We therefore propose a taxonomy of navigation processes in mammals that can serve as a common framework for structuring and facilitating interdisciplinary research in the field. Using the taxonomy as a guide, we review behavioral and neural studies of spatial navigation. In doing so, we validate the taxonomy and showcase its usefulness in identifying potential issues with common experimental approaches, designing experiments that adequately target particular behaviors, correctly interpreting neural activity, and pointing to new avenues of research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eloy Parra-Barrero
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sandhiya Vijayabaskaran
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Eddie Seabrook
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Laurenz Wiskott
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Sen Cheng
- Institute for Neural Computation, Faculty of Computer Science, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany; International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
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13
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Donato F, Xu Schwartzlose A, Viana Mendes RA. How Do You Build a Cognitive Map? The Development of Circuits and Computations for the Representation of Space in the Brain. Annu Rev Neurosci 2023; 46:281-299. [PMID: 37428607 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-090922-010618] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/12/2023]
Abstract
In mammals, the activity of neurons in the entorhinal-hippocampal network is modulated by the animal's position and its movement through space. At multiple stages of this distributed circuit, distinct populations of neurons can represent a rich repertoire of navigation-related variables like the animal's location, the speed and direction of its movements, or the presence of borders and objects. Working together, spatially tuned neurons give rise to an internal representation of space, a cognitive map that supports an animal's ability to navigate the world and to encode and consolidate memories from experience. The mechanisms by which, during development, the brain acquires the ability to create an internal representation of space are just beginning to be elucidated. In this review, we examine recent work that has begun to investigate the ontogeny of circuitry, firing patterns, and computations underpinning the representation of space in the mammalian brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Flavio Donato
- Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland;
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14
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Allison EAMA, Moore JW, Arkell D, Thomas J, Dudchenko PA, Wood ER. The medial entorhinal cortex is necessary for the stimulus control over hippocampal place fields by distal, but not proximal, landmarks. Hippocampus 2023; 33:811-829. [PMID: 36808771 PMCID: PMC10946748 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.23506] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/17/2023] [Indexed: 02/22/2023]
Abstract
A fundamental property of place cells in the hippocampus is the anchoring of their firing fields to salient landmarks within the environment. However, it is unclear how such information reaches the hippocampus. In the current experiment, we tested the hypothesis that the stimulus control exerted by distal visual landmarks requires input from the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC). Place cells were recorded from mice with ibotenic acid lesions of the MEC (n = 7) and from sham-lesioned mice (n = 6) following 90° rotations of either distal landmarks or proximal cues in a cue- controlled environment. We found that lesions of the MEC impaired the anchoring of place fields to distal landmarks, but not proximal cues. We also observed that, relative to sham-lesioned mice, place cells in animals with MEC lesions exhibited significantly reduced spatial information and increased sparsity. These results support the view that distal landmark information reaches the hippocampus via the MEC, but that proximal cue information can do so via an alternative neural pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Joe W. Moore
- Centre for Discovery Brain SciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | - Daisy Arkell
- Centre for Discovery Brain SciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | - Julia Thomas
- Centre for Discovery Brain SciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | | | - Emma R. Wood
- Centre for Discovery Brain SciencesUniversity of EdinburghEdinburghUK
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15
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Fernandez-Leon JA, Uysal AK, Ji D. Place cells dynamically refine grid cell activities to reduce error accumulation during path integration in a continuous attractor model. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21443. [PMID: 36509873 PMCID: PMC9744848 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-25863-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2022] [Accepted: 12/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Navigation is one of the most fundamental skills of animals. During spatial navigation, grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex process speed and direction of the animal to map the environment. Hippocampal place cells, in turn, encode place using sensory signals and reduce the accumulated error of grid cells for path integration. Although both cell types are part of the path integration system, the dynamic relationship between place and grid cells and the error reduction mechanism is yet to be understood. We implemented a realistic model of grid cells based on a continuous attractor model. The grid cell model was coupled to a place cell model to address their dynamic relationship during a simulated animal's exploration of a square arena. The grid cell model processed the animal's velocity and place field information from place cells. Place cells incorporated salient visual features and proximity information with input from grid cells to define their place fields. Grid cells had similar spatial phases but a diversity of spacings and orientations. To determine the role of place cells in error reduction for path integration, the animal's position estimates were decoded from grid cell activities with and without the place field input. We found that the accumulated error was reduced as place fields emerged during the exploration. Place fields closer to the animal's current location contributed more to the error reduction than remote place fields. Place cells' fields encoding space could function as spatial anchoring signals for precise path integration by grid cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jose A Fernandez-Leon
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
- Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires (UNCPBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, INTIA, Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- CIFICEN, UNCPBA-CICPBA-CONICET, Tandil, Argentina.
- Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Ahmet Kerim Uysal
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Daoyun Ji
- Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA
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McNamee DC, Stachenfeld KL, Botvinick MM, Gershman SJ. Compositional Sequence Generation in the Entorhinal-Hippocampal System. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 24:1791. [PMID: 36554196 PMCID: PMC9778317 DOI: 10.3390/e24121791] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2022] [Revised: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Neurons in the medial entorhinal cortex exhibit multiple, periodically organized, firing fields which collectively appear to form an internal representation of space. Neuroimaging data suggest that this grid coding is also present in other cortical areas such as the prefrontal cortex, indicating that it may be a general principle of neural functionality in the brain. In a recent analysis through the lens of dynamical systems theory, we showed how grid coding can lead to the generation of a diversity of empirically observed sequential reactivations of hippocampal place cells corresponding to traversals of cognitive maps. Here, we extend this sequence generation model by describing how the synthesis of multiple dynamical systems can support compositional cognitive computations. To empirically validate the model, we simulate two experiments demonstrating compositionality in space or in time during sequence generation. Finally, we describe several neural network architectures supporting various types of compositionality based on grid coding and highlight connections to recent work in machine learning leveraging analogous techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel C. McNamee
- Neuroscience Programme, Champalimaud Research, 1400-038 Lisbon, Portugal
| | | | - Matthew M. Botvinick
- Google DeepMind, London N1C 4DN, UK
- Gatsby Computational Neuroscience Unit, University College London, London W1T 4JG, UK
| | - Samuel J. Gershman
- Department of Psychology and Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Center for Brains, Minds and Machines, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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