Street View of the Cognitive Map

Cian O'Donnell; Terrence J Sejnowski

doi:10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.051

Street View of the Cognitive Map

Cell. 2016 Jan 14;164(1-2):13-15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2015.12.051.

Authors

Cian O'Donnell¹, Terrence J Sejnowski²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK.
² Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92161, USA. Electronic address: sejnowski@salk.edu.

Abstract

To understand the origins of spatial navigational signals, Acharya et al. record the activity of hippocampal neurons in rats running in open two-dimensional environments in both the real world and in virtual reality. They find that a subset of hippocampal neurons have directional tuning that persists in virtual reality, where vestibular cues are absent.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Comment

MeSH terms

Animals
Appetitive Behavior*
Hippocampus / physiology*
Humans
Male

Grants and funding

HHMI/Howard Hughes Medical Institute/United States