PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Viganò, Simone
AU  - Bayramova, Rena
AU  - Doeller, Christian F.
AU  - Bottini, Roberto
TI  - Mental search of concepts is supported by egocentric vector representations and restructured grid maps
AID  - 10.1101/2023.01.19.524704
DP  - 2023 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 2023.01.19.524704
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/01/20/2023.01.19.524704.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2023/01/20/2023.01.19.524704.full
AB  - The human hippocampal-entorhinal system is known to represent both spatial locations and abstract concepts in memory in the form of allocentric cognitive maps. Using fMRI, we show that the human parietal cortex evokes complementary egocentric-like vector representations in conceptual spaces during goal-directed mental search, akin to those observable during physical navigation to determine where a goal is located relative to oneself. Concurrently, grid-like representations, a neural signature of allocentric cognitive maps in entorhinal, prefrontal, and parietal cortices, are restructured as a function of conceptual goal proximity, akin to rodent grid cells firing around reward locations during spatial exploration. These brain mechanisms might support flexible and parallel readout of where target conceptual information is stored in memory, capitalizing on complementary reference frames.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.