Document Detail


Head direction cell firing properties and behavioural performance in 3-D space.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  20855436     Owner:  NLM     Status:  In-Data-Review    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Previous studies have identified a population of neurons in the rat brain that discharge as a function of the animal's directional heading in the horizontal plane, independent of their location and on-going behaviour. Most studies on head direction (HD) cells have explored how they respond in two-dimensional environments within the horizontal plane. Many animals, however, live and locomote in a three-dimensional world. This paper reviews how HD cells respond when the animal locomotes on a vertical surface or inverted on a ceiling. We found that HD cells fire in a normal, direction-dependent manner when the rat is in the vertical plane, but not when the animal is inverted. Recent behavioural studies reported that rats are capable of accurately performing a navigational task when inverted, but only when the task was simple and started from not more than one or two entry points. Probe trials found that they did not have a flexible, map-like representation of space when inverted. The loss of the directional signal when the animal is in an inverted orientation may account for the absence of the map-like representation. Taken together, these findings indicate that a normal otolith signal contributes an important role to HD cell discharge.
Authors:
Jeffrey S Taube
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article     Date:  2010-09-20
Journal Detail:
Title:  The Journal of physiology     Volume:  589     ISSN:  1469-7793     ISO Abbreviation:  J. Physiol. (Lond.)     Publication Date:  2011 Feb 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2011-04-13     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  0266262     Medline TA:  J Physiol     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  835-41     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. jeffrey.taube@dartmouth.edu.
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