Hexadirectional coding of visual space in human entorhinal cortex

Matthias Nau; Tobias Navarro Schröder; Jacob L S Bellmund; Christian F Doeller

doi:10.1038/s41593-017-0050-8

Hexadirectional coding of visual space in human entorhinal cortex

Nat Neurosci. 2018 Feb;21(2):188-190. doi: 10.1038/s41593-017-0050-8. Epub 2018 Jan 8.

Authors

Matthias Nau^{1

2}, Tobias Navarro Schröder^{3

4}, Jacob L S Bellmund^{3

4}, Christian F Doeller^{5

6

7}

Affiliations

¹ Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. matthias.nau@ntnu.no.
² Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. matthias.nau@ntnu.no.
³ Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
⁵ Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience, Centre for Neural Computation, The Egil and Pauline Braathen and Fred Kavli Centre for Cortical Microcircuits, NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. christian.doeller@ntnu.no.
⁶ Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. christian.doeller@ntnu.no.
⁷ St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway. christian.doeller@ntnu.no.

PMID: 29311746
DOI: 10.1038/s41593-017-0050-8

Abstract

Entorhinal grid cells map the local environment, but their involvement beyond spatial navigation remains elusive. We examined human functional MRI responses during a highly controlled visual tracking task and show that entorhinal cortex exhibited a sixfold rotationally symmetric signal encoding gaze direction. Our results provide evidence for a grid-like entorhinal code for visual space and suggest a more general role of the entorhinal grid system in coding information along continuous dimensions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Attention / physiology*
Entorhinal Cortex / diagnostic imaging
Entorhinal Cortex / physiology*
Eye Movements / physiology
Female
Grid Cells / physiology
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Linear Models
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Orientation / physiology*
Oxygen / blood
Space Perception / physiology*
Spatial Navigation / physiology*
Visual Pathways / diagnostic imaging
Visual Pathways / physiology
Young Adult

Substances

Oxygen