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Alignment in spatial memory: Encoding of reference frames or of relations?

ABSTRACT: A common assumption about spatial memory is that it is organized along one or more reference directions such that access to memory is easier along directions aligned with the reference direction(s). This assumption rests to no small part on frequently replicated alignment effects arising in judgment of relative direction. In this contribution, we report an experiment designed to investigate a possible alternative explanation of alignment effects. By contrasting performance in a judgment of relative direction task with performance in an ego perspective taking task, we tested to what extent alignment effects arise from encoding of relations in addition to or instead of from organization along reference directions. Experimental results suggest little if any contribution of relation encoding on alignment effects, thus lending further support to the assumption of reference directions in spatial memory. Data from both tasks yielded the same alignment effects and provided evidence for a single direction being encoded in memory. Moreover, our results shed new light on and raise questions concerning differential sensorimotor and cognitive influence on spatial memory use. While both influence memory use, systematic bias seems to arise solely from reference directions, along which memory is organized.

SUBMITTER: Schultheis H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7870619 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Alignment in spatial memory: Encoding of reference frames or of relations?

Schultheis Holger H

Psychonomic bulletin & review 20210201 1

A common assumption about spatial memory is that it is organized along one or more reference directions such that access to memory is easier along directions aligned with the reference direction(s). This assumption rests to no small part on frequently replicated alignment effects arising in judgment of relative direction. In this contribution, we report an experiment designed to investigate a possible alternative explanation of alignment effects. By contrasting performance in a judgment of relat ...[more]

PMID: 33025534

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Project description:Primates rely predominantly on vision to gather information from the environment and neurons representing visual space and gaze position are found in many brain areas. Within the medial temporal lobe, a brain region critical for memory, neurons in the entorhinal cortex of macaque monkeys exhibit spatial selectivity for gaze position. Specifically, the firing rate of single neurons reflects fixation location within a visual image (Killian et al., 2012). In the rodents, entorhinal cells such as grid cells, border cells, and head direction cells show spatial representations aligned to visual environmental features instead of the body (Hafting et al., 2005; Sargolini et al., 2006; Solstad et al., 2008; Diehl et al., 2017). However, it is not known whether similar allocentric representations exist in primate entorhinal cortex. Here, we recorded neural activity in the entorhinal cortex in two male rhesus monkeys during a naturalistic, free-viewing task. Our data reveal that a majority of entorhinal neurons represent gaze position and that simultaneously recorded neurons represent gaze position relative to distinct spatial reference frames, with some neurons aligned to the visual image and others aligned to the monkey's head position. Our results also show that entorhinal neural activity can be used to predict gaze position with a high degree of accuracy. These findings demonstrate that visuospatial representation is a fundamental property of entorhinal neurons in primates and suggest that entorhinal cortex may support relational memory and motor planning by coding attentional locus in distinct, behaviorally relevant frames of reference.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The entorhinal cortex, a brain area important for memory, shows striking spatial activity in rodents through grid cells, border cells, head direction cells, and nongrid spatial cells. The majority of entorhinal neurons signal the location of a rodent relative to visual environmental cues, representing the location of the animal relative to space in the world instead of the body. Recently, we found that entorhinal neurons can signal location of gaze while a monkey explores images visually. Here, we report that spatial entorhinal neurons are widespread in the monkey and these neurons are capable of showing a world-based spatial reference frame locked to the bounds of explored images. These results help connect the extensive findings in rodents to the primate.

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Alignment in spatial memory: Encoding of reference frames or of relations?

Publications

Alignment in spatial memory: Encoding of reference frames or of relations?

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