title: Head direction cell activity and behavior in a navigation task requiring a cognitive mapping strategy.
abstract: Head direction (HD) cells fire in relation to an animal's directional heading. To examine how these cells may be involved in spatial behavior, HD cells were recorded while animals performed a navigation task requiring the use of a cognitive mapping strategy. Results showed no relationship between performance on the task and the directional stability of the HD cell activity. The HD cell signal, therefore, appears to not always be used by the animal to guide its behavior during all navigation tasks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences & Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
authors.forename: Gary M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Taube
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004594:Electrophysiology; D005260:Female; D006257:Head / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology*; D018782:Maze Learning; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology