Human Brain Maps Flip During Spatial Navigation
This is a guest post in our #NPGsfn11 blog series and posted on behalf of Moheb Costandi.
The brain encodes two distinct maps of the route from one location to another and switches between the two at different phases of the journey, according to new research presented earlier this week at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Washington, D.C.
We know that a brain structure called the hippocampus, in the medial temporal lobe, is essential for spatial navigation and for encoding spatial memories. It contains at least four different cell types that encode maps of the environment, but exactly how this occurs is unknown.
According to one model, the hippocampus encodes a Euclidean path, or straight line, between point A and point B. Another suggests that it encodes the true path between the two locations, incorporating diversions around obstacles.
Hugo Spiers and Lorelei Howard of the Institute of Behavioural Neuroscience at University College London wanted to investigate whether the brain might actually encode both of these paths.
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