title: The medial frontal cortex contributes to but does not organize rat exploratory behavior.
abstract: Animals use multiple strategies to maintain spatial orientation. Dead reckoning is a form of spatial navigation that depends on self-movement cue processing. During dead reckoning, the generation of self-movement cues from a starting position to an animal's current position allow for the estimation of direction and distance to the position movement originated. A network of brain structures has been implicated in dead reckoning. Recent work has provided evidence that the medial frontal cortex may contribute to dead reckoning in this network of brain structures. The current study investigated the organization of rat exploratory behavior subsequent to medial frontal cortex aspiration lesions under light and dark conditions. Disruptions in exploratory behavior associated with medial frontal lesions were consistent with impaired motor coordination, response inhibition, or egocentric reference frame. These processes are necessary for spatial orientation; however, they are not sufficient for self-movement cue processing. Therefore it is possible that the medial frontal cortex provides processing resources that support dead reckoning in other brain structures but does not of itself compute the kinematic details of dead reckoning.
authors: Psychology Department, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2892, USA.
authors: Philip A
authors: PA
authors: Blankenship
authors: Psychology Department, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2892, USA.
authors: Sarah L
authors: SL
authors: Stuebing
authors: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA.
authors: Shawn S
authors: SS
authors: Winter
authors: Department of Anatomy, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, 1135 Lincoln Drive, Mailcode #6523, Carbondale, IL 62901, USA.
authors: Joseph L
authors: JL
authors: Cheatwood
authors: Department of Mathematical Sciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2892, USA.
authors: James D
authors: JD
authors: Benson
authors: Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K3M4, Canada.
authors: Ian Q
authors: IQ
authors: Whishaw
authors: Psychology Department, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL 60115-2892, USA. Electronic address: dwallace@niu.edu.
authors: Douglas G
authors: DG
authors: Wallace
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology*; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Rattus norvegicus; dead reckoning; medial frontal; path integration; spatial orientation; translational neuroscience