Work

Neural systems supporting navigation

Year: 2014

Type: review

Abstract: Much is known about how neural systems determine current spatial position and orientation in the environment. By contrast little is understood about how the brain represents future goal locations or computes the distance and direction to such goals. Recent electrophysiology, computational modelling and neuroimaging research have shed new light on how the spatial relationship to a goal may be determined and represented during navigation. This research suggests that the hippocampus may code the path to the goal while the entorhinal cortex represents the vector to the goal. It also reveals that the engagement of the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex varies across the different operational stages of navigation, such as during travel, route planning, and decision-making at waypoints.

Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2014.08.005

Authors: Hugo J Spiers, Caswell Barry

Institution: University College London

Language: English

Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,360

Funders: Wellcome Trust, Royal Society