An independent, landmark-dominated head-direction signal in dysgranular retrosplenial cortex

Nature Neuroscience 20, 173 (2017). doi:10.1038/nn.4465 Authors: Pierre-Yves Jacob, Giulio Casali, Laure Spieser, Hector Page, Dorothy Overington & Kate Jeffery We investigated how landmarks influence the brain's computation of head direction and found that in a bidirectionally symmetrical environment, some neurons in dysgranular retrosplenial cortex showed bidirectional firing patterns. This indicates dominance of neural activity by local environmental cues even when these conflicted with the global head direction signal. It suggests a mechanism for associating landmarks to or dissociating them from the head direction signal, according to their directional stability and/or utility.
Source: Nature Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Brief Communication Source Type: research