Hippocampal neurons: simulating the spatial structure of a complex maze

Kate Jeffery; Giulio Casali

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.001

Hippocampal neurons: simulating the spatial structure of a complex maze

Curr Biol. 2014 Jul 21;24(14):R643-R645. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.001.

Authors

Kate Jeffery¹, Giulio Casali²

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK. Electronic address: k.jeffery@ucl.ac.uk.
² Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience, Department of Experimental Psychology, Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK.

PMID: 25050959
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.001

Abstract

Hippocampal place neurons not only represent current location, but fire in sequences that appear to simulate past and future spatial trajectories. A recent study has found that the firing sequences match the structure of a complex maze, suggesting that the structure of the environment is encoded by the place system, perhaps to aid navigational planning.

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MeSH terms

Animals
Hippocampus / anatomy & histology*
Hippocampus / physiology*
Male