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Place‐related neural responses in the monkey hippocampal formation in a virtual space
Author(s) -
Hori Etsuro,
Nishio Yoichi,
Kazui Kenichi,
Umeno Katsumi,
Tabuchi Eiichi,
Sasaki Kazuo,
Endo Shunro,
Ono Taketoshi,
Nishijo Hisao
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
hippocampus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.767
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1098-1063
pISSN - 1050-9631
DOI - 10.1002/hipo.20108
Subject(s) - neuroscience , hippocampal formation , spatial memory , sensory cue , context (archaeology) , place cell , psychology , cognitive map , episodic memory , spatial contextual awareness , neural substrate , cognition , computer science , biology , artificial intelligence , working memory , paleontology
Place cells in the rodent hippocampal formation (HF) are suggested to be the neural substrate for a spatial cognitive map. This specific spatial property of the place cells are regulated by both allothetic cues (i.e., intramaze local and distal cues) as well as idiothetic sensory inputs; the context signaled by the distal cues allows local and idiothetic cues to be employed for spatial tuning within the maze. To investigate the effects of distal cues on place‐related activity of primate HF neurons, 228 neurons were recorded from the monkey HF during virtual navigation in a similar situation to a rodent water maze, in which distal cues were important to locate the animal's position. A subset of 72 neurons displayed place‐related activity in one or more virtual spaces. Most place‐related responses disappeared or changed their spatial tuning (i.e., remapping) when the arrangements of the distal cues were altered/moved in the virtual spaces. These specific features of the monkey HF might underlie neurophysiological bases of human episodic memory. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.