title: Navigational path integration by cortical neurons: origins in higher-order direction selectivity.
abstract: Navigation relies on the neural processing of sensory cues about observer self-movement and spatial location. Neurons in macaque dorsal medial superior temporal cortex (MSTd) respond to visual and vestibular self-movement cues, potentially contributing to navigation and orientation. We moved monkeys on circular paths around a room while recording the activity of MSTd neurons. MSTd neurons show a variety of sensitivities to the monkey's heading direction, circular path through the room, and place in the room. Changing visual cues alters the relative prevalence of those response properties. Disrupting the continuity of self-movement paths through the environment disrupts path selectivity in a manner linked to the time course of single neuron responses. We hypothesize that sensory cues interact with the spatial and temporal integrative properties of MSTd neurons to derive path selectivity for navigational path integration supporting spatial orientation.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and The Center for Visual Science, The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: William K
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Page
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and The Center for Visual Science, The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Nobuya
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and The Center for Visual Science, The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: Michael T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Froehler
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and The Center for Visual Science, The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.affiliation: Departments of Neurology, Neurobiology and Anatomy, Ophthalmology, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and The Center for Visual Science, The University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York charles_duffy@urmc.rochester.edu.
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Duffy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003463:Cues; D008124:Locomotion; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D013028:Space Perception; D065854:Spatial Navigation; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D014796:Visual Perception
keywords: cortex; extrastriate; optic flow; visual motion