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Giulio Casali: Altered neural odometry in the vertical dimension

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The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the neural representation of space computed by a network of brain areas orchestrated by the hippocampus encodes vertical navigation different than horizontal.

Indeed our results show that this is the case, suggesting a complex interaction between locomotor plane and gravity axis and that altogether the neural representation of space in asymmetrical across dimensions (i.e. anisotropic).

Entorhinal grid cells integrate sensory and self-motion inputs to provide a spatial metric of a characteristic scale. One function of this metric may be to help localise the firing fields of hippocampal place cells during formation and use of the hippocampal spatial representation (“cognitive map”). Of theoretical importance is the question of how this metric, and the resulting map, is configured in 3D space (Click here to read full publication