Decoding the population activity of grid cells for spatial localization and goal-directed navigation
Mammalian grid cells discharge when an animal crosses the points of an imaginary hexagonal grid tessellating the environment. I will show how animals can navigate by reading out a population vector of such activity patterns across multiple spatial scales. The theory explains key experimental results about grid cells, makes testable predictions for future physiological and behavioural experiments, and provides a mathematical foundation for the concept of a “neural metric” for space. For goal-directed navigation, the proposed allocentric grid cell representation can be readily transformed into the egocentric goal coordinates needed for planning movements.

This talk is based on a paper by Martin Stemmler, Alexander Mathis and myself (advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/11/e1500816).
Date: 16 March 2016, 13:00
Venue: Tinsley Building, Mansfield Road OX1 3TA
Speaker: Prof Andrea Herz (LMU Munich)
Organising department: Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour
Organisers: Dr Tim P Vogels (University of Oxford), Dr Rui Ponte Costa (University of Oxford)
Part of: Oxford Neurotheory Forum
Topics:
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Public
Editor: Rui Costa