A proposed architecture for the neural representation of spatial context.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
; 28(2): 201-18, 2004 Apr.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-15172764
ABSTRACT
The role of context in guiding animal behavior has attracted increasing attention in recent years, but little is known about what constitutes a context, nor how and where in the brain it is represented. Contextual stimuli can take many forms, but of particular importance are those that collectively define a particular place or situation. The representation of place has been linked to the hippocampus, because its principal neurons ('place cells') are spatially responsive; behavioral experiments also implicate this structure in the processing of contextual stimuli. Together, these findings suggest a hippocampal role in representing 'spatial context'. The present article outlines a proposed architecture for the encoding of spatial context in which spatial inputs to place cells are modulated (or 'gated') by non-spatial stimuli. We discuss recent experimental evidence that spatial context is population-coded, a property which could allow both discrimination between overlapping contexts and generalization across them, and thus provide a foundation for animals' capacity for flexible context-linked place learning.
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Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Space Perception
/
Spatial Behavior
/
Behavior, Animal
/
Discrimination, Psychological
/
Environment
/
Hippocampus
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Neurosci Biobehav Rev
Year:
2004
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
United kingdom