What do grid cells contribute to place cell firing?
The unitary firing fields of hippocampal place cells are commonly assumed to be generated by input from entorhinal grid cell modules with differing spatial scales. Here, we review recent research that brings this assumption into doubt. Instead, we propose that place cell spatial firing patterns are determined by environmental sensory inputs, including those representing the distance and direction to environmental boundaries, while grid cells provide a complementary self-motion related input that contributes to maintaining place cell firing. In this view, grid and place cell firing patterns are not successive stages of a processing hierarchy, but complementary and interacting representations that work in combination to support the reliable coding of large-scale space.
University College London (UCL) Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, WC1N 3AR, UK; UCL Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK. Electronic address: drdanielbush@gmail.com.
Daniel
D
Bush
UCL Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
Caswell
C
Barry
University College London (UCL) Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, London, WC1N 3AR, UK; UCL Institute of Neurology, London, WC1N 3BG, UK. Electronic address: n.burgess@ucl.ac.uk.
Neil
N
Burgess
D000818:Animals; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
border cells; boundary vector cells; grid cells; hippocampus; place cells