PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Lukas Kunz
AU  - Armin Brandt
AU  - Peter C. Reinacher
AU  - Bernhard P. Staresina
AU  - Eric T. Reifenstein
AU  - Christoph T. Weidemann
AU  - Nora A. Herweg
AU  - Melina Tsitsiklis
AU  - Richard Kempter
AU  - Michael J. Kahana
AU  - Andreas Schulze-Bonhage
AU  - Joshua Jacobs
TI  - A neural code for egocentric spatial maps in the human medial temporal lobe
AID  - 10.1101/2020.03.03.973131
DP  - 2020 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2020.03.03.973131
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/31/2020.03.03.973131.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/03/31/2020.03.03.973131.full
AB  - Spatial navigation relies on neural systems that encode spatial information relative to the external world or relative to the navigating organism. Ever since the proposal of cognitive maps, the neuroscience of spatial navigation has focused on allocentric (world-referenced) representations such as place cells. Here, using single-neuron recordings during virtual navigation, we reveal a neural code for egocentric (self-centered) spatial information in humans: “anchor cells” represent egocentric directions towards proximal “anchor points” located in the environmental center or periphery. Anchor cells were abundant in parahippocampal cortex, supported full vectorial representations of egocentric space, and were integrated into a neural memory network. Anchor cells may thus facilitate egocentric navigation strategies, assist in transforming percepts into allocentric spatial representations, and may underlie the first-person perspective in episodic memories.One Sentence Summary Anchor cells in the human brain provide the neural basis for a self-centered coordinate system during spatial navigation.