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Preparation of Parasagittal Slices for the Investigation of Dorsal-ventral Organization of the Rodent Medial Entorhinal Cortex
Published on: March 28, 2012
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Entorhinal grid-like codes for visual space during memory formation
Luise P Graichen1, Magdalena S Linder2, Lars Keuter2,3
1Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. luise.philine.graichen@univie.ac.at.
Nature Communications
|October 20, 2025
Summary
Human saccades show grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex linked to memory. Lower grid-like codes during scene study unexpectedly correlate with better later recognition memory.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Visual Perception
Background:
- Eye movements, particularly saccades, are crucial for environmental information gathering and memory formation.
- Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex are vital for spatial navigation in non-human primates, but their role in human memory is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence and function of saccade-based grid-like signals in the human entorhinal cortex during memory formation.
- To explore the relationship between these grid-like codes, eye movements, and subsequent recognition memory.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and continuous eye gaze monitoring were used in human participants studying scene images.
- Recognition memory was assessed immediately after image study, with data analyzed for saccade-based grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex.
Main Results:
- Saccade-based grid-like codes were identified in the left entorhinal cortex, specifically during trials that were later remembered.
- These grid-related effects were time-locked with neural activity in the frontal eye fields (FEF).
- Surprisingly, lower saccade-based grid-like codes were associated with enhanced subsequent recognition memory performance.
Conclusions:
- The study reveals an entorhinal map of visual space, coordinated with oculomotor activity in the frontal eye fields.
- Saccade-based grid-like signals in the entorhinal cortex appear to have a negative association with subsequent memory performance.
- This suggests a complex interplay between eye movements, spatial coding, and memory consolidation in humans.
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