Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Aylin Apostel, Jonas Rose
Summary: The study found head-direction cells, but not place cells, in the hippocampal formation of quails, shedding light on the poorly understood avian hippocampus.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anna E. Smith, Emma R. Wood, Paul A. Dudchenko
Summary: Head direction cells maintain a similar preferred firing direction across different maze compartments. In a single environment, both a barrier and a cue card exert comparable amounts of stimulus control over head direction cells and place cells.
BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Analytical
Yudi Chen, Zhi Xiong, Jianye Liu, Chuang Yang, Lijun Chao, Yang Peng
Summary: This paper proposes a brain-inspired positioning method based on multi-sensors' input, utilizing head-direction cell model and place cell model to encode information, decode direction and position, and output more accurate and stable navigation parameters.
Article
Virology
Thais Q. Q. Morcatty, Paula E. R. Pereyra, Ahmad Ardiansyah, Muhammad Ali Imron, Katherine Hedger, Marco Campera, K. Anne-Isola Nekaris, Vincent Nijman
Summary: Southeast Asia is a hotspot for emerging zoonotic diseases, with wildlife trade playing a significant role in disease transmission. A study in Indonesian wildlife markets found that 8 out of 15 animal species were hosts to 17 zoonotic viruses. Network analysis showed that long-tailed macaques had the highest potential for spreading viral diseases, being the most traded species and a potential host for 9 viruses.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Susumu Takahashi, Takumi Hombe, Sakiko Matsumoto, Kaoru Ide, Ken Yoda
Summary: Animals demonstrate remarkable navigation abilities, possibly due to the presence of head direction cells that encode the animal's heading information. In the study of shearwater chicks, it was found that their head direction cells exhibited a preference for the north direction, indicating the existence of an internally generated magnetic compass in animals.
Review
Neurosciences
Philip Ruthig, Marc Schoenwiesner
Summary: This review summarizes recent findings on the lateralization of communicative sound processing in the auditory cortex (AC) of humans, non-human primates, and rodents. It highlights the similarities and differences in the functional and anatomical characteristics of AC in these species. The integration of results from different species is essential to understand the neural circuitry of vocal communication processing, but challenges arise due to the difficulty of comparing data from different species and methods. Recent advances may enable better integration of methods across species.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Cell Biology
Giuseppe Balsamo, Eduardo Blanco-Hernandez, Feng Liang, Robert Konrad Naumann, Stefano Coletta, Andrea Burgalossi, Patricia Preston-Ferrer
Summary: Research on the mouse dorsal presubiculum demonstrates a modular patch-matrix organization that is conserved across species, including human. The restricted apical dendrites of HD cells within the matrix suggest a non-random sampling of patterned inputs and a precise structure-function architecture in the cortical representation of HD.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaoyang Long, Bin Deng, Calvin K. Young, Guo-Long Liu, Zeqi Zhong, Qian Chen, Hui Yang, Sheng-Qing Lv, Zhe Sage Chen, Sheng-jia Zhang
Summary: Head direction cells are an important component in the brain's spatial navigation system. FS HD cells in the somatosensory cortex display sharper head-directionality than RS HD cells and coexist with RS HD cells and AHV cells in a layer-specific manner. These findings challenge the concept that FS interneurons are weakly tuned to sensory stimuli and provide insights into the local circuit organization of HD signaling in the brain.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Tiago F. Outeiro, Peter Heutink, Erwan Bezard, Angela M. Cenci
Summary: Parkinson's disease is primarily characterized by movement disorders associated with the loss of dopaminergic neurons. However, it is now understood as a complex condition with multiple nonmotor features, involving various protein inclusions. Familial forms of PD have provided insights into the molecular pathways leading to neurodegeneration, adding complexity to the issue. Models using patient-derived cells and animal models, combined with current technological tools, are proposed to expand understanding and identify therapeutic strategies for PD.
MOVEMENT DISORDERS
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Jose A. Fernandez-Leon, Gerardo G. Acosta
Summary: This study aims to discuss the controversial issue of cognitive scalability for cognitive map emergence from the intersection of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. It proposes different neural structures that support the emergence of place maps and provides recommendations for advancing the field.
COGNITIVE COMPUTATION
(2022)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Yijia Yan, Neil Burgess, Andrej Bicanski
Summary: This study presents a computational model explaining how visual feedback can stabilize head direction (HD) information in environments with multiple cues of varying stability and directional specificity. The model predicts neurons with a unimodal encoding of the egocentric orientation of landmark arrays, allowing the landmark bearing signal to disconnect from directionally unstable or ephemeral cues and support orientation across different environments.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Mary Ann Go, Jake Rogers, Giuseppe P. Gava, Catherine E. Davey, Seigfred Prado, Yu Liu, Simon R. Schultz
Summary: The study demonstrates the advantages of using a real-world environment system for studying spatial memory in head-fixed mice. It shows that hippocampal cells can maintain place tuning in this system, even in the absence of distal visual cues.
FRONTIERS IN CELLULAR NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Baozhong Li, Yanming Liu, Lei Lai
Summary: This paper proposes a bio-inspired neural compass model with 3 DOFs based on the neurophysiological characteristics of head direction cells in mammals' brains, which determines spatial orientations of unmanned vehicles in 3-D environments using angular velocity of head turning. By incorporating external perception information and calibrating cumulative errors of path integration, the model effectively tracks spatial orientations in 3-D environments.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Jose A. Fernandez-Leon, Luca Sarramone
Summary: The spatial modulation continuous attractor network (SCAN) model suggests that the dynamic relationship between place and grid cells is the core mechanism for maintaining coherent spatial coded information, although this coupling mode seems weak in the model.
Article
Neurosciences
Roddy M. Grieves, Michael E. Shinder, Laura K. Rosow, Megan S. Kenna, Jeffrey S. Taube
Summary: The brain has robust mechanisms to counter spatial disorientation, including neural cell activity, visual landmarks, and vestibular input. Rotation speed affects neural cell activity, and head-fixed rotations impact the perception of angular velocity.
Editorial Material
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Arseny Finkelstein
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arseny Finkelstein, Nachum Ulanovsky, Misha Tsodyks, Johnatan Aljadeff
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2018)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Tamir Eliav, Maya Geva-Sagiv, Michael M. Yartsev, Arseny Finkelstein, Alon Rubin, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Elhanan Ben-Yishay, Ksenia Krivoruchko, Shaked Ron, Nachum Ulanovsky, Dori Derdikman, Yoram Gutfreund
Summary: This study used tetrodes to record hippocampal neurons in Japanese quails, finding that about 12% of the neurons were head-direction cells. The findings support the existence of an allocentric head-direction representation in the quail hippocampal formation.
Article
Neurosciences
Arseny Finkelstein, Lorenzo Fontolan, Michael N. Economo, Nuo Li, Sandro Romani, Karel Svoboda
Summary: The flow of information in the brain can be gated via attractor dynamics, controlling the level of commitment to an action. Decisions are stored in memory until enacted, potentially vulnerable to distracting sensory input. Through experiments with mice, it was observed that choice-encoding activity in the motor cortex became progressively less sensitive to the impact of distractors.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Correction
Neurosciences
Arseny Finkelstein, Lorenzo Fontolan, Michael N. Economo, Nuo Li, Sandro Romani, Karel Svoboda
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gily Ginosar, Johnatan Aljadeff, Yoram Burak, Haim Sompolinsky, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: Researchers discovered various types of spatial neurons in the brains of freely flying bats, including 3D border cells, 3D head-direction cells, and neurons with multiple 3D firing fields. The 3D grid cells exhibited only local order, unlike the global lattice arrangement seen in 2D grid cells, providing a locally ordered metric for space.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Tamir Eliav, Shir R. Maimon, Johnatan Aljadeff, Misha Tsodyks, Gily Ginosar, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: The study revealed a multiscale coding in hippocampal place cells, where individual cells exhibit multiple fields with significant differences in size, allowing for more precise representation of very large environments. This unique neural coding was observed in both wild-born and laboratory-born bats.
Review
Neurosciences
Hidehiko K. Inagaki, Susu Chen, Kayvon Daie, Arseny Finkelstein, Lorenzo Fontolan, Sandro Romani, Karel Svoboda
Summary: This article discusses the neural dynamics involved in the planning and execution of voluntary movements in the brain. Recent experimental studies, combined with computational models, reveal that cortical dynamics reflect fixed points of neural activity, which can be reshaped and moved by subcortical control signals to initiate specific movements.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ayelet Sarel, Shaked Palgi, Dan Blum, Johnatan Aljadeff, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: This study observes the switch between navigation and collision avoidance behaviors in bats and finds that hippocampal neurons can rapidly switch their core computation to represent relevant behavioral variables, supporting behavioral flexibility.
Article
Neurosciences
David B. Omer, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: This study identified two distinct populations of time cells in the bat hippocampal area CA1. One population encoded different temporal sequences based on the bat's location, thus encoding both spatial context and time. The other population encoded similar preferred times across different spatial contexts, purely encoding elapsed time. Additionally, time cells were found to encode temporal sequences aligned to another bat's landing in a social imitation task. These diverse time codes may support interval timing perception, episodic memory, and temporal coordination between self and others.
NATURE NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Arpit Agarwal, Ayelet Sarel, Dori Derdikman, Nachum Ulanovsky, Yoram Gutfreund
Summary: This study used a wireless electrophysiology system to record single neurons in freely flying barn owls. They found neurons in the hippocampus and other regions that encoded spatial information about the owl's position, direction of flight, and perching location. These findings suggest commonalities in spatial coding between mammals and birds.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Bente Jacobsen, Heidi Kleven, Wairimu Gatome, Liora Las, Nachum Ulanovsky, Menno P. Witter
Summary: The hippocampal formation and entorhinal cortex are important for learning, memory, and spatial navigation in mammals. Bats, which have evolved flight, require spatial navigation in a 3D environment. The entorhinal-hippocampal projections in Egyptian fruit bats were investigated, and it was found that the terminal distributions are similar to other mammalian species such as rodents and primates, except for the entorhinal-DG projection.
Article
Neurosciences
Gily Ginosar, Johnatan Aljadeff, Liora Las, Dori Derdikman, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: The symmetric, lattice-like spatial pattern of grid-cell activity does not provide a neuronal global metric for space in more naturalistic settings due to distortions and disintegration. Grid cells may instead function as a local metric for proximal space, a metric for subjective action-relevant space, and distortions may indicate salient locations. Understanding these functions requires examining deviations from lattice symmetry.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Gily Ginosar, Ehud D. Karpas, Idan Weitzner, Nachum Ulanovsky
Summary: The perception of 3D space has been extensively studied, but there are conflicting reports on distortions. This study proposes that 3D perception consists of two processes: perception of traveled space and perception of surrounding space. By testing these two aspects on the same subjects, it was found that the perception of traveled space is experience-dependent, while the perception of surrounding space is not affected by experience. This suggests that these two aspects of 3D spatial perception emerge from distinct processes.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)