The neurobiology of mammalian navigation

Steven Poulter; Tom Hartley; Colin Lever

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050

The neurobiology of mammalian navigation

Steven Poulter, Tom Hartley, Colin Lever

Psychology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

Abstract

Mammals have evolved specialized brain systems that support efficient navigation within diverse habitats, over varied terrain and long-distances, but while navigational strategies and sensory mechanisms vary across species, core spatial components appear to be widely shared. This review presents these common elements of these mammalian spatial mapping systems, focusing on the cells in the hippocampal formation that represent orientational and locational spatial information, and ‘core’ mammalian hippocampal circuitry. Mammalian spatial mapping systems make use of both allothetic cues (space-defining cues in the external environment) and ideothetic cues (cues derived from self-motion). As examples of each cue type, we discuss: a) environmental boundaries, which control both orientational and locational neuronal activity and behaviour; b) ‘path integration’ – a process that allows the estimation of linear translation from velocity signals, thought to depend upon grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. Building cognitive maps entails sampling environments: we consider how the mapping system controls exploration to acquire spatial information, and how exploratory strategies may integrate ideothetic with allothetic information. We discuss how ‘replay’ may act to consolidate spatial maps, and simulate trajectories to aid navigational planning. Finally, we discuss grid-cell models of vector navigation.

Original language	English
Number of pages	20
Journal	Current Biology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050
Publication status	Published - 10 Sept 2018

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050
10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050Licence: CC BY

PoulterEtAlCurrentBiology2018
©2018 The Authors.
Final published version, 3.62 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

@article{1df1d8a986d2459180f3e2478a70230d,

title = "The neurobiology of mammalian navigation",

abstract = "Mammals have evolved specialized brain systems that support efficient navigation within diverse habitats, over varied terrain and long-distances, but while navigational strategies and sensory mechanisms vary across species, core spatial components appear to be widely shared. This review presents these common elements of these mammalian spatial mapping systems, focusing on the cells in the hippocampal formation that represent orientational and locational spatial information, and {\textquoteleft}core{\textquoteright} mammalian hippocampal circuitry. Mammalian spatial mapping systems make use of both allothetic cues (space-defining cues in the external environment) and ideothetic cues (cues derived from self-motion). As examples of each cue type, we discuss: a) environmental boundaries, which control both orientational and locational neuronal activity and behaviour; b) {\textquoteleft}path integration{\textquoteright} – a process that allows the estimation of linear translation from velocity signals, thought to depend upon grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. Building cognitive maps entails sampling environments: we consider how the mapping system controls exploration to acquire spatial information, and how exploratory strategies may integrate ideothetic with allothetic information. We discuss how {\textquoteleft}replay{\textquoteright} may act to consolidate spatial maps, and simulate trajectories to aid navigational planning. Finally, we discuss grid-cell models of vector navigation.",

author = "Steven Poulter and Tom Hartley and Colin Lever",

note = "{\textcopyright}2018 The Authors.",

year = "2018",

month = sep,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050",

language = "English",

journal = "Current Biology",

issn = "0960-9822",

publisher = "Elsevier",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - The neurobiology of mammalian navigation

AU - Poulter, Steven

AU - Hartley, Tom

AU - Lever, Colin

PY - 2018/9/10

Y1 - 2018/9/10

N2 - Mammals have evolved specialized brain systems that support efficient navigation within diverse habitats, over varied terrain and long-distances, but while navigational strategies and sensory mechanisms vary across species, core spatial components appear to be widely shared. This review presents these common elements of these mammalian spatial mapping systems, focusing on the cells in the hippocampal formation that represent orientational and locational spatial information, and ‘core’ mammalian hippocampal circuitry. Mammalian spatial mapping systems make use of both allothetic cues (space-defining cues in the external environment) and ideothetic cues (cues derived from self-motion). As examples of each cue type, we discuss: a) environmental boundaries, which control both orientational and locational neuronal activity and behaviour; b) ‘path integration’ – a process that allows the estimation of linear translation from velocity signals, thought to depend upon grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. Building cognitive maps entails sampling environments: we consider how the mapping system controls exploration to acquire spatial information, and how exploratory strategies may integrate ideothetic with allothetic information. We discuss how ‘replay’ may act to consolidate spatial maps, and simulate trajectories to aid navigational planning. Finally, we discuss grid-cell models of vector navigation.

AB - Mammals have evolved specialized brain systems that support efficient navigation within diverse habitats, over varied terrain and long-distances, but while navigational strategies and sensory mechanisms vary across species, core spatial components appear to be widely shared. This review presents these common elements of these mammalian spatial mapping systems, focusing on the cells in the hippocampal formation that represent orientational and locational spatial information, and ‘core’ mammalian hippocampal circuitry. Mammalian spatial mapping systems make use of both allothetic cues (space-defining cues in the external environment) and ideothetic cues (cues derived from self-motion). As examples of each cue type, we discuss: a) environmental boundaries, which control both orientational and locational neuronal activity and behaviour; b) ‘path integration’ – a process that allows the estimation of linear translation from velocity signals, thought to depend upon grid cells in the entorhinal cortex. Building cognitive maps entails sampling environments: we consider how the mapping system controls exploration to acquire spatial information, and how exploratory strategies may integrate ideothetic with allothetic information. We discuss how ‘replay’ may act to consolidate spatial maps, and simulate trajectories to aid navigational planning. Finally, we discuss grid-cell models of vector navigation.

U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050

DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2018.05.050

M3 - Review article

SN - 0960-9822

JO - Current Biology

JF - Current Biology

ER -