IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v436y2005i7052d10.1038_nature03721.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex

Author

Listed:
  • Torkel Hafting

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

  • Marianne Fyhn

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

  • Sturla Molden

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology
    University of Oslo)

  • May-Britt Moser

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

  • Edvard I. Moser

    (Norwegian University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

The ability to find one's way depends on neural algorithms that integrate information about place, distance and direction, but the implementation of these operations in cortical microcircuits is poorly understood. Here we show that the dorsocaudal medial entorhinal cortex (dMEC) contains a directionally oriented, topographically organized neural map of the spatial environment. Its key unit is the ‘grid cell’, which is activated whenever the animal's position coincides with any vertex of a regular grid of equilateral triangles spanning the surface of the environment. Grids of neighbouring cells share a common orientation and spacing, but their vertex locations (their phases) differ. The spacing and size of individual fields increase from dorsal to ventral dMEC. The map is anchored to external landmarks, but persists in their absence, suggesting that grid cells may be part of a generalized, path-integration-based map of the spatial environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Torkel Hafting & Marianne Fyhn & Sturla Molden & May-Britt Moser & Edvard I. Moser, 2005. "Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex," Nature, Nature, vol. 436(7052), pages 801-806, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7052:d:10.1038_nature03721
    DOI: 10.1038/nature03721
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03721
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature03721?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7052:d:10.1038_nature03721. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.