scholarly journals Head direction cell firing properties and behavioural performance in 3-D space

2011 ◽  
Vol 589 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-841 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Taube
Keyword(s):  
Head Direction ◽  
Head Direction Cell ◽  
Behavioural Performance ◽  
Cell Firing ◽  
Firing Properties

scholarly journals Interspike Interval Analyses Reveal Irregular Firing Patterns at Short, But Not Long, Intervals in Rat Head Direction Cells

2010 ◽  
Vol 104 (3) ◽  
pp. 1635-1648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey S. Taube
Keyword(s):  
Interspike Interval ◽  
Grid Cell ◽  
Constant Stimulus ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
Cortical Cells ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cell Firing ◽  
Firing Properties ◽  
Irregular Firing

Previous studies have shown that a subset of neurons in the rat anterodorsal thalamus discharge as a function of the animal's head direction (HD) in the horizontal plane, independent of the animal's location and behavior. These cells have consistent firing properties across a wide range of conditions and cell discharge appears highly regular when listened to through a loudspeaker. In contrast, interspike interval (ISI) analyses on cortical cells have found that cell firing is irregular, even under constant stimulus conditions. Here, we analyzed HD cells from the anterodorsal thalamus, while rats foraged for food pellets, to determine whether their firing was regular or irregular. ISIs were measured when the animal's HD was maintained within ±6° of the cell's preferred firing direction. ISIs were highly variable with a mean coefficient of variation (CV) of 0.681. For each cell, the CV values at HDs ±24° away from the cell's preferred direction were similar to the coefficient measured at the cell's preferred direction. A second recording session showed that cells had similar coefficients of variation as the first session, suggesting that the degree of variability in cell spiking was a characteristic property for each cell. There was little correlation between ISIs and angular head velocity or translational speed. ISIs measured in HD cells from the postsubiculum and lateral mammillary nuclei showed higher CV values. These results indicate that despite the appearance of regularity in their firing, HD cells, like cortical cells, have irregular ISIs. In contrast to the irregular firing observed for ISIs, analyses over longer time intervals indicated that HD cell firing was much more regular, more nearly resembling a rate code. These findings have implications for attractor networks that model the HD signal and for models proposed to explain the generation of grid cell signals in entorhinal cortex.

scholarly journals Passive Movements of the Head Do Not Abolish Anticipatory Firing Properties of Head Direction Cells

2005 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 1304-1316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua P. Bassett ◽  
Michaël B. Zugaro ◽  
Gary M. Muir ◽  
Edward J. Golob ◽  
Robert U. Muller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thalamic Nucleus ◽  
Passive Movement ◽  
Efference Copy ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
Preferred Direction ◽  
Cell Firing ◽  
Firing Properties ◽  
Passive Movements ◽  
Active Contribution

Neurons in the anterior dorsal thalamic nucleus (ADN) of the rat selectively discharge in relation to the animal's head direction (HD) in the horizontal plane. Temporal analyses of cell firing properties reveal that their discharge is optimally correlated with the animal's future directional heading by ∼24 ms. Among the hypotheses proposed to explain this property is that ADN HD cells are informed of future head movement via motor efference copy signals. One prediction of this hypothesis is that when the rat's head is moved passively, the anticipatory time interval (ATI) will be attenuated because the motor efference signal reflects only the active contribution to the movement. The present study tested this hypothesis by loosely restraining the animal and passively rotating it through the cell's preferred direction. Contrary to our prediction, we found that ATI values did not decrease during passive movement but in fact increased significantly. HD cells in the postsubiculum did not show the same effect, suggesting independence between the two sites with respect to anticipatory firing. We conclude that it is unlikely that a motor efference copy signal alone is responsible for generating anticipatory firing in ADN HD cells.

The effects of disorientation on visual landmark control of head direction cell orientation

1997 ◽  
Vol 115 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Dudchenko ◽  
Jeremy P. Goodridge ◽  
J. S. Taube
Keyword(s):  
Head Direction ◽  
Cell Orientation ◽  
Visual Landmark ◽  
Head Direction Cell

scholarly journals Modeling Attractor Deformation in the Rodent Head-Direction System

2000 ◽  
Vol 83 (6) ◽  
pp. 3402-3410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy P. Goodridge ◽  
David S. Touretzky
Keyword(s):  
Angular Velocity ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Inhibitory Neurons ◽  
Surprising Result ◽  
Head Direction ◽  
Anterior Thalamus ◽  
Attractor Dynamics ◽  
Cell Firing

We present a model of the head-direction circuit in the rat that improves on earlier models in several respects. First, it provides an account of some of the unique characteristics of head-direction (HD) cell firing in the lateral mammillary nucleus and the anterior thalamus. Second, the model functions without making physiologically unrealistic assumptions. In particular, it implements attractor dynamics in postsubiculum and lateral mammillary nucleus without directionally tuned inhibitory neurons, which have never been observed in vivo, and it integrates angular velocity without the use of multiplicative synapses. The model allows us to examine the relationships among three HD areas and various properties of their representations. A surprising result is that certain combinations of purported HD cell properties are mutually incompatible, suggesting that the lateral mammillary nucleus may not be the primary source of head direction input to anterior thalamic HD cells.

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