A new perspective on the head direction cell system and spatial behavior

Dudchenko, Paul A.; Wood, Emma R.; Smith, Anna E.

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.06.036

Cited by 30 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 115 publications

(121 reference statements)

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“…HD-cells reference facing direction relative to known landmarks (Taube and Burton, 1995) and are often compared to an 'internal compass' mediating our sense of direction (Butler et al, 2017;Cullen and Taube, 2017). This HD-cell compass plays a central role in cognitive mapping and is thought to mediate homing, reorientation and path integration behavior (Butler et al, 2017;Cullen and Taube, 2017;Dudchenko et al, 2019;van der Meer et al, 2010;Valerio and Taube, 2012;Weiss and Derdikman, 2018;Weiss et al, 2017). We observed that multiple brain areas encoded direction, many of which overlap with regions known to contain HDcells in rodents and monkey.…”

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…First, these cells provide a directional representation that is continuous (i.e. they always maintain similar activity on population-level following attractor-dynamics (Cullen and Taube, 2017;Dudchenko et al, 2019;Skaggs et al, 1995;Taube, 2007). Second, impairments or even lesions of the HD-cell system only have very moderate effects on behavior (Dudchenko et al, 2019).…”

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…they always maintain similar activity on population-level following attractor-dynamics (Cullen and Taube, 2017;Dudchenko et al, 2019;Skaggs et al, 1995;Taube, 2007). Second, impairments or even lesions of the HD-cell system only have very moderate effects on behavior (Dudchenko et al, 2019). However, growing evidence suggests that there are at least two types of HD-cells in the brain: 'classical' continuous HD-cells, as well as non-continuous sensory HD-cells (Dudchenko et al, 2019).…”

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Second, impairments or even lesions of the HD-cell system only have very moderate effects on behavior (Dudchenko et al, 2019). However, growing evidence suggests that there are at least two types of HD-cells in the brain: 'classical' continuous HD-cells, as well as non-continuous sensory HD-cells (Dudchenko et al, 2019). The latter have been shown to switch between active and inactive states, providing a directional representation that is controlled by visual landmarks instead of attractordynamics (Kornienko et al, 2018).…”

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

Nau

Schröder²,

Frey

et al. 2019

Preprint

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The brain derives cognitive maps from sensory experience to guide memory formation and behavior. Despite extensive efforts, it still remains unclear how the underlying population activity relates to active behavior and memory performance. Here, we combined 7T-fMRI with a kernelbased encoding model of virtual navigation to map world-centered directional tuning across the human cortex. First, we present an in-depth analysis of directional tuning in visual, retrosplenial and parahippocampal cortices and the hippocampus. Second, we show that tuning strength, width and topology of this directional code during memory-guided navigation depend on successful encoding of the environment. Finally, we show that participants' locomotory state influences this tuning in sensory and mnemonic regions such as the hippocampus. We demonstrate a direct link between neural population tuning and human cognition and show that high-level memory processing interacts with network-wide environmental coding in the service of behavior.

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Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Visual Information and Head Directionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

Nau

Schröder²,

Frey

et al. 2019

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…HD cells reference facing direction relative to known landmarks 47 and are often compared with an internal compass mediating our sense of direction 45,48 . This HD-cell compass plays a central role in cognitive mapping and is thought to mediate homing, reorientation, and pathintegration behavior 45,[48][49][50][51][52][53] . We observed that multiple brain areas encoded direction, many of which overlap with regions known to contain HD cells in rodents and monkeys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

Nau

Schröder²,

Frey

et al. 2020

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The brain derives cognitive maps from sensory experience that guide memory formation and behavior. Despite extensive efforts, it still remains unclear how the underlying population activity unfolds during spatial navigation and how it relates to memory performance. To examine these processes, we combined 7T-fMRI with a kernel-based encoding model of virtual navigation to map world-centered directional tuning across the human cortex. First, we present an in-depth analysis of directional tuning in visual, retrosplenial, parahippocampal and medial temporal cortices. Second, we show that tuning strength, width and topology of this directional code during memory-guided navigation depend on successful encoding of the environment. Finally, we show that participants' locomotory state influences this tuning in sensory and mnemonic regions such as the hippocampus. We demonstrate a direct link between neural population tuning and human cognition, where high-level memory processing interacts with network-wide visuospatial coding in the service of behavior.

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The stimulus control of local enclosures and barriers over head direction and place cell spatial firing

2021

Self Cite

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Objective Head direction cell and place cell spatially tuned firing is often anchored to salient visual landmarks on the periphery of a recording environment. What is less well understood is whether structural features of an environment, such as orientation of a maze sub‐compartment or a polarizing barrier, can likewise control spatial firing. Method We recorded from 54 head direction cells in the medial entorhinal cortex and subicular region of male Lister Hooded rats while they explored an apparatus with four parallel or four radially arranged compartments (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, we recorded from 130 place cells (in Lister‐ and Long‐Evans Hooded rats) and 30 head direction cells with 90° rotations of a cue card and a barrier in a single environment (Experiment 2). Results We found that head direction cells maintained a similar preferred firing direction across four separate maze compartments even when these faced different directions (Experiment 1). However, in an environment with a single compartment, we observed that both a barrier and a cue card exerted comparable amounts of stimulus control over head direction cells and place cells (Experiment 2). Conclusion The maintenance of a stable directional orientation across maze compartments suggests that the head direction cell system has the capacity to provide a global directional reference that allows the animal to distinguish otherwise similar maze compartments based on the compartment's orientation. A barrier is, however, capable of controlling spatially tuned firing in an environment in which it is the sole polarizing feature.

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A new perspective on the head direction cell system and spatial behavior

Cited by 30 publications

References 115 publications

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

Behavior-dependent directional tuning in the human visual-navigation network

The stimulus control of local enclosures and barriers over head direction and place cell spatial firing

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