The Boundary Vector Cell Model of Place Cell Firing and Spatial Memory

Barry, Caswell; Lever, Colin; Hayman, Robin; Hartley, Tom T.; Burton, Stephen; O’Keefe, John; Jeffery, Kate J.; Burgess, Neil

doi:10.1515/revneuro.2006.17.1-2.71

Cited by 342 publications

(461 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The view-based approach to the study of place-sensitive activity in the hippocampal formation provides an alternative to other approaches that require calculation of distances to environmental boundaries (Barry et al, 2006;Hartley, Burgess, Lever, Cacucci, & Keefe, 2000) or landmark detection (Sharp, 1991;Touretzky & Redish, 1996). Moreover, the view-based explanation of geometry-related effects is biologically more plausible than the explanation involving a dedicated brain module for geometry processing (Cheng, 1986;Cheng & Newcombe, 2005;Hermer & Spelke, 1996).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model.

Sheynikhovich¹,

Chavarriaga²,

Strösslin³

et al. 2009

Psychological Review

104

145

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Modern psychological theories of spatial cognition postulate the existence of a geometric module for reorientation. This concept is derived from experimental data showing that in rectangular arenas with distinct landmarks in the corners, disoriented rats often make diagonal errors, suggesting their preference for the geometric (arena shape) over the nongeometric (landmarks) cues. Moreover, sensitivity of hippocampal cell firing to changes in the environment layout was taken in support of the geometric module hypothesis. Using a computational model of rat navigation, the authors proposed and tested the alternative hypothesis that the influence of spatial geometry on both behavioral and neuronal levels can be explained by the properties of visual features that constitute local views of the environment. Their modeling results suggest that the pattern of diagonal errors observed in reorientation tasks can be understood by the analysis of sensory information processing that underlies the navigation strategy employed to solve the task. In particular, 2 navigation strategies were considered: (a) a place-based locale strategy that relies on a model of grid and place cells and (b) a stimulus-response taxon strategy that involves direct association of local views with action choices. The authors showed that the application of the 2 strategies in the reorientation tasks results in different patterns of diagonal errors, consistent with behavioral data. These results argue against the geometric module hypothesis by providing a simpler and biologically more plausible explanation for the related experimental data. Moreover, the same model also describes behavioral results in different types of water-maze tasks.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model.

Sheynikhovich¹,

Chavarriaga²,

Strösslin³

et al. 2009

Psychological Review

104

145

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Currently, it is not known how these cells interact with other cell types in the entorhinal cortex and hippocampus. Cells with boundary-related activity have previously been reported in the subiculum (Sharp, 1999b;Barry et al, 2006), one synapse downstream of the hippocampus and one synapse upstream of the entorhinal cortex, but the reports are still anecdotic and the number of border cells with high S/N ratios in this area is apparently extremely low (n 2 in Barry et al, 2006;0 in Henriksen et al, 2007).…”

Section: The Extended Mapmentioning

confidence: 98%

A metric for space

2008

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ABSTRACT:Not all areas of neuronal systems investigation have matured to the stage where computation can be understood at the microcircuit level. In mammals, insights into cortical circuit functions have been obtained for the early stages of sensory systems, where signals can be followed through networks of increasing complexity from the receptors to the primary sensory cortices. These studies have suggested how neurons and neuronal networks extract features from the external world, but how the brain generates its own codes, in the higher-order nonsensory parts of the cortex, has remained deeply mysterious. In this terra incognita, a path was opened by the discovery of grid cells, place-modulated entorhinal neurons whose firing locations define a periodic triangular or hexagonal array covering the entirety of the animal's available environment. This array of firing is maintained in spite of ongoing changes in the animal's speed and direction, suggesting that grid cells are part of the brain's metric for representation of space. Because the crystal-like structure of the firing fields is created within the nervous system itself, grid cells may provide scientists with direct access to some of the most basic operational principles of cortical circuits. V

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“…Head direction cells had previously been observed in a number of brain systems, from the dorsal tegmental nucleus in the brain stem to the pre-and parasubiculum in the parahippocampal cortex (Ranck 1985;Taube et al 1990;Taube 2007). Border cells were described at the same time in the subiculum (Barry et al 2006;Lever et al 2009). Thus, by the end of the first decade of the new millennium, it was clear that place and grid cells were part of a diverse and entangled network of cell types with distinct functions in spatial representation.…”

Section: Upstream Of Place Cells: Grid Cells and Other Cell Typesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Place Cells, Grid Cells, and Memory

Moser

Rowland

Moser

2015

Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol

421

267

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The hippocampal system is critical for storage and retrieval of declarative memories, including memories for locations and events that take place at those locations. Spatial memories place high demands on capacity. Memories must be distinct to be recalled without interference and encoding must be fast. Recent studies have indicated that hippocampal networks allow for fast storage of large quantities of uncorrelated spatial information. The aim of the this article is to review and discuss some of this work, taking as a starting point the discovery of multiple functionally specialized cell types of the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit, such as place, grid, and border cells. We will show that grid cells provide the hippocampus with a metric, as well as a putative mechanism for decorrelation of representations, that the formation of environment-specific place maps depends on mechanisms for long-term plasticity in the hippocampus, and that long-term spatiotemporal memory storage may depend on offline consolidation processes related to sharp-wave ripple activity in the hippocampus. The multitude of representations generated through interactions between a variety of functionally specialized cell types in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit may be at the heart of the mechanism for declarative memory formation.T he scientific study of human memory started with Herman Ebbinghaus, who initiated the quantitative investigation of associative memory processes as they take place (Ebbinghaus 1885). Ebbinghaus described the conditions that influence memory formation and he determined several basic principles of encoding and recall, such as the law of frequency and the effect of time on forgetting. With Ebbinghaus, higher mental functions were brought to the laboratory. In parallel with the human learning tradition that Ebbinghaus started, a new generation of experimental psychologists described the laws of associative learning in animals. With behaviorists like Pavlov, Watson, Hull, Skinner, and Tolman, a rigorous program for identifying the laws of animal learning was initiated. By the middle of the 20th century, a language for associative learning processes had been developed, and many of the fundamental relationships between environment and behavior had been described. What was completely missing, though, was an understanding of the neural activity underlying the formation of the memory. The behaviorists had deliberately shied away from physiological explanations because of the intangible nature of neural activity at that time.Then the climate began to change. Karl Lashley had shown that lesions in the cerebral cortex had predictable effects on behavior in Editors: Eric R. Kandel, Yadin Dudai, and Mark R. Mayford Additional Perspectives on Learning and Memory available at

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The Boundary Vector Cell Model of Place Cell Firing and Spatial Memory

Cited by 342 publications

References 80 publications

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model.

Is there a geometric module for spatial orientation? Insights from a rodent navigation model.

A metric for space

Place Cells, Grid Cells, and Memory

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