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How the Hippocampal Cognitive Map Supports Flexible Navigation

O'Keefe, John; (2025) How the Hippocampal Cognitive Map Supports Flexible Navigation. Annual Review of Neuroscience 10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-023341.

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Abstract

During navigation to a goal, a portion of the hippocampal place cells exhibit directional preferences, firing more in some directions than in others. These directional preferences create vector fields oriented toward locations scattered around the environment called ConSinks. The population vector field averaged across all of the cells recorded in each animal flows toward an average ConSink located close to the goal, providing a means for navigation in unobstructed environments. Closer examination of the ConSink place cell directional firing reveals a fantail representation in which alternative paths to the goal are evaluated, providing the basis for flexible navigation. Additional assumptions about how obstructions might be represented suggest a solution for navigation in more complicated environments. Implications for the phenomena of directionality on linear tracks and splitter cells are discussed.

Type: Article
Title: How the Hippocampal Cognitive Map Supports Flexible Navigation
Location: United States
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-023341
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-112723-02334...
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the publisher proofs. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: cognitive map, hippocampus, place cells, navigation, ConSinks, vector fields
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Cell and Developmental Biology
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10207476
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