Year: 2000
Type: article
Abstract: The activity of dorsal striatal location and head direction neurons were recorded as rats performed a hippocampal-dependent spatial working memory task. Relative to previous descriptions of hippocampal fields, striatal fields appeared more dependent on the visual environment in which the maze was performed. Striatal head direction correlates were also shown to be dependent upon the visual context in a lit environment: The directional preferences rotated with the rotation of distal visual cue, and maze or rat rotations had no effect. However, when animals performed the maze in darkness, idiothetic information gained greater control over head direction preferences: Passive movement of the rat in darkness (but not in light) disrupted directional firing. During both light and dark trials, the same head direction preferences were observed. A special contribution of the dorsal striatum to navigation may be to facilitate an animal’s ability to switch between navigational strategies, thereby maintaining behavioral constancy in changing environments.
Source: Psychobiology
DOI: 10.3758/bf03332003
Institution: University of Utah
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2190645785