Gaze-informed, Task-situated Representation of Space in Primate Hippocampus During Virtual Navigation

Overview

Journal PLoS Biol

Specialty Biology

Date 2017 Feb 28

PMID 28241007

Citations 37

Authors

Sylvia Wirth

Pierre Baraduc

Aurelie Plante

Serge Pinede

Jean-Rene Duhamel

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

To elucidate how gaze informs the construction of mental space during wayfinding in visual species like primates, we jointly examined navigation behavior, visual exploration, and hippocampal activity as macaque monkeys searched a virtual reality maze for a reward. Cells sensitive to place also responded to one or more variables like head direction, point of gaze, or task context. Many cells fired at the sight (and in anticipation) of a single landmark in a viewpoint- or task-dependent manner, simultaneously encoding the animal's logical situation within a set of actions leading to the goal. Overall, hippocampal activity was best fit by a fine-grained state space comprising current position, view, and action contexts. Our findings indicate that counterparts of rodent place cells in primates embody multidimensional, task-situated knowledge pertaining to the target of gaze, therein supporting self-awareness in the construction of space.

Citing Articles

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Hippocampal Discoveries: Spatial View Cells, Connectivity, and Computations for Memory and Navigation, in Primates Including Humans.

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