Differential recruitment of the hippocampus, medial prefrontal cortex, and the human motion complex during path integration in humans.
Path integration, the ability to sense self-motion for keeping track of changes in orientation and position, constitutes a fundamental mechanism of spatial navigation and a keystone for the development of cognitive maps. Whereas animal path integration is predominantly supported by the head-direction, grid, and place cell systems, the neural foundations are not well understood in humans. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging and a virtual rendition of a triangle completion paradigm to test whether human path integration recruits a cortical system similar to that of rodents and nonhuman primates. Participants traveled along two legs of a triangle before pointing toward the starting location. In accordance with animal models, stronger right hippocampal activation predicted more accurate updating of the starting location on a trial-by-trial basis. Moreover, between-subjects fluctuations in response consistency were negatively correlated with bilateral hippocampal and medial prefrontal activation, and bilateral recruitment of the human motion complex (hMT+) covaried with individual path integration capability. Given that these effects were absent in a perceptual control task, the present study provides the first evidence that visual path integration is related to the dynamic interplay of self-motion processing in hMT+, higher-level spatial processes in the hippocampus, and spatial working memory in medial prefrontal cortex.
Wolbers
Thomas
T
Department of Psychology, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA. wolbers@psych.ucsb.edu
Wiener
Jan M
JM
Mallot
Hanspeter A
HA
Büchel
Christian
C
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D019416:Head Movements / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D010775:Photic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis
D010100:Oxygen