Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Tracking one’s position in the environment during navigation requires integrating multiple signals into a spatial representation. This process is thought to occur primarily in the hippocampal formation, but evidence for it has also been observed in other regions. To investigate it across the brain, we recorded from over 20,000 neurons in mice navigating a virtual corridor that decoupled position from correlated signals. Spatial position was encoded in every region, and was more common in neurons tuned to visual landmarks. Most neurons brainwide were also modulated by running speed, likely reflecting arousal, and many by rewards. The hippocampal formation represented spatial position slightly more uniformly than other regions, but less precisely than visual cortex. Spatial position and other navigational signals are thus represented widely across the brain.
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: Wellcome Trust, European Commission
OpenAlex ID: W7208740363