Towards understanding the neural basis of spatial navigation
Prof. Dr. Andreas Herz (LMU München)
Datum: 16.01.2012 um 17:15 Uhr
Ort: Hörsaal H 030 - Schellingstr. 4
Remembering paths through an environment relies on specialized neural circuits. Here, "place cells" discharge when the animal is at a certain location, whereas the multiple firing fields of a "grid cell" form a hexagonal lattice. I will show that in both systems, spatial location is encoded not only in whether a cell fires or not, but also in the relative timing of action potentials and discuss why it is highly advantageous to complement a place code with a second, grid-like code.