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Ten Years of Grid Cells
David C Rowland1, Yasser Roudi1, May-Britt Moser1
1Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Neural Computation, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491 Trondheim, Norway; email: david.c.rowland@ntnu.no , yasser.roudi@ntnu.no , may-britt.moser@ntnu.no , edvard.moser@ntnu.no.
Annual Review of Neuroscience
|March 30, 2016
Summary
Grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) form spatial maps. This review summarizes current knowledge on MEC grid cell organization, function, and environmental interactions, highlighting areas needing further research.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Spatial Navigation
- Computational Neuroscience
Background:
- The medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is crucial for spatial representation.
- MEC contains specialized cells including grid cells, border cells, head direction cells, and speed cells.
- Grid cells exhibit hexagonal firing fields that tile environments.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the current understanding of grid cells in the MEC.
- To explore the organization and generation of grid cell firing fields.
- To discuss the influence of environmental factors and network interactions on grid cells.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on MEC grid cells.
- Analysis of research on neural network organization.
- Synthesis of findings on environmental shaping of spatial representations.
Main Results:
- Grid cells are the most abundant cell type in the MEC.
- Significant progress has been made in understanding grid cell network organization and firing field generation.
- Environmental properties demonstrably shape grid cell activity.
Conclusions:
- Knowledge of MEC grid cells has advanced significantly since their discovery in 2005.
- The review consolidates current understanding while identifying gaps in knowledge.
- Further research is needed to fully elucidate grid cell mechanisms and interactions.
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