Abstract

ut, and place fields can form when the animal explores novel environments in the dark. Place cells also continue to fire when distal landmarks are removed, but permutation of landmarks causes the animal to behave as if it were in an unfamiliar environment. Finally, place cell firing may be dependent on head direction, at least under certain conditions. An acceptable model of place memory must allow the "current place" to be updated by non-visual means such as motor feedback, and must be both sensitive to visual cues and robust in their absence. We propose a computational theory of the core of rat navigation abilities, based on coupled mechanisms for path integration, place recognition, and maintenance of head direction. We assume the rat has a path integration system (see [Etienne 1987, Mittelstaedt & Mittelstaedt 1980]) that is able to keep track of its current position relative to selected reference points. We postulate that hippocampal pyramidal cells form place descriptions by lear

Citations