A Comparison of Neural Decoding Methods and Population Coding Across Thalamo-Cortical Head Direction Cells

Front Neural Circuits. 2019 Dec 10:13:75. doi: 10.3389/fncir.2019.00075. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Head direction (HD) cells, which fire action potentials whenever an animal points its head in a particular direction, are thought to subserve the animal's sense of spatial orientation. HD cells are found prominently in several thalamo-cortical regions including anterior thalamic nuclei, postsubiculum, medial entorhinal cortex, parasubiculum, and the parietal cortex. While a number of methods in neural decoding have been developed to assess the dynamics of spatial signals within thalamo-cortical regions, studies conducting a quantitative comparison of machine learning and statistical model-based decoding methods on HD cell activity are currently lacking. Here, we compare statistical model-based and machine learning approaches by assessing decoding accuracy and evaluate variables that contribute to population coding across thalamo-cortical HD cells.

Keywords: anterior thalamus; memory; navigation; parahippocampal; parietal; spatial behavior.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Action Potentials / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Cerebral Cortex / physiology*
  • Computer Simulation
  • Head Movements / physiology*
  • Models, Neurological
  • Neurons / physiology*
  • Orientation, Spatial / physiology*
  • Rats
  • Spatial Navigation / physiology
  • Thalamus / physiology*