title: Purely Translational Realignment in Grid Cell Firing Patterns Following Nonmetric Context Change.
abstract: Grid cells in entorhinal and parahippocampal cortices contribute to a network, centered on the hippocampal place cell system, that constructs a representation of spatial context for use in navigation and memory. In doing so, they use metric cues such as the distance and direction of nearby boundaries to position and orient their firing field arrays (grids). The present study investigated whether they also use purely nonmetric "context" information such as color and odor of the environment. We found that, indeed, purely nonmetric cues--sufficiently salient to cause changes in place cell firing patterns--can regulate grid positioning; they do so independently of orientation, and thus interact with linear but not directional spatial inputs. Grid cells responded homogeneously to context changes. We suggest that the grid and place cell networks receive context information directly and also from each other; the information is used by place cells to compute the final decision of the spatial system about which context the animal is in, and by grid cells to help inform the system about where the animal is within it.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK.
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Lin Lin
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Ginzberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alenda
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, University College London, London WC1H 0AP, UK.
authors.forename: Kate J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Jeffery
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003116:Color; D003463:Cues; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology*; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009474:Neurons / Q000145:classification / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants; D009949:Orientation; D051381:Rats; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: context; grid cells; place cells; sensory integration; spatial learning