Cellular networks underlying human spatial navigation

Place cells of the rodent hippocampus constitute one of the most striking examples of a correlation between neuronal activity and complex behaviour in mammals. These cells increase their firing rates when the animal traverses specific regions of its surroundings, providing a context-dependent map of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature 2003-09, Vol.425 (6954), p.184-188
Main Authors: Kahana, Michael J, Fried, Itzhak, Ekstrom, Arne D, Caplan, Jeremy B, Fields, Tony A, Isham, Eve A, Newman, Ehren L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action Potentials
Animal behavior
Biological and medical sciences
Brain - cytology
Brain - physiology
Central nervous system
Computers
Electrophysiology
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Games, Experimental
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
letter
Male
Mammals
Models, Neurological
multidisciplinary
Neurons
Neurons - cytology
Neurons - physiology
Photic Stimulation
Rodents
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Space Perception - physiology
Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs
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Summary:Place cells of the rodent hippocampus constitute one of the most striking examples of a correlation between neuronal activity and complex behaviour in mammals. These cells increase their firing rates when the animal traverses specific regions of its surroundings, providing a context-dependent map of the environment. Neuroimaging studies implicate the hippocampus and the parahippocampal region in human navigation. However, these regions also respond selectively to visual stimuli. It thus remains unclear whether rodent place coding has a homologue in humans or whether human navigation is driven by a different, visually based neural mechanism. We directly recorded from 317 neurons in the human medial temporal and frontal lobes while subjects explored and navigated a virtual town. Here we present evidence for a neural code of human spatial navigation based on cells that respond at specific spatial locations and cells that respond to views of landmarks. The former are present primarily in the hippocampus, and the latter in the parahippocampal region. Cells throughout the frontal and temporal lobes responded to the subjects' navigational goals and to conjunctions of place, goal and view.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/nature01964