Sense of direction

One of the research strands in the lab focuses on the sense of direction, which is supported by the head direction cells, found in a number of brain regions. The cells are thought to be organised as a "ring attractor" — a network in which activity passes from one set of cells to their neighbours, with the direction of activity flow depending on the direction of movement of the head, so that the active cells always correspond to the facing direction of the animal (see the video schematic below). As the system inevitably accumulates errors, it is corrected when the animal sees familiar directional landmarks.

mouse_and_ring-attractor.gif

Our questions:

  • How does the system "perceive" visual landmarks?

  • How does the system learn about directional landmarks and their stability?

  • How do the landmarks correct the accumulated error?

  • How does the system learn about different types of environment?

  • How does the system work when movements occur in three dimensions instead of just two?

Relevant publications

  • Page, HJI and Jeffery, KJ (2018) Landmark-based updating of the head direction system by retrosplenial cortex: A computational model Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 12:191

  • Mitchell A, Czajkowski, R, Zhang N, Jeffery KJ and Nelson, A (2017) Retrosplenial cortex and its role in spatial cognition Brain and Neuroscience Advances, 2: 1-13

  • Page H, Wilson J, Jeffery KJ (2017) A proposed rule for updating of the head direction cell reference frame following rotations in three dimensions J Neurophysiol doi: 10.1152/jn.00501.2017 pdf

  • Lozano Y, Page H, Jacob P-Y, Lomi E, Street J, Jeffery KJ (2017) Retrosplenial and postsubicular head direction cells compared during visual landmark discrimination Brain and Neuroscience Advances

  • Jacob P-Y J, Casali G, Spieser L, Overington DWU, Page H, Jeffery KJ (2017) An independent, landmark-dominated head direction signal in dysgranular retrosplenial cortex. Nature Neuroscience, 20, 173-175 doi: 10.1038/nn.4465 pdf supp

  • Knight R, Piette C, Page H, Walters D, Marozzi E, Nardini M, Stringer S, Jeffery KJ (2013) Weighted cue integration in the rodent head direction system. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (London), 369(1635):20120512 pdf supp

  • Knight R, Hayman R, Ginzberg LL, and Jeffery, KJ (2011) Geometric cues influence head direction cells only weakly in non-disoriented rats. Journal of Neuroscience, 31(44):15681-92 pdf

  • Jeffery, KJ, Anand, RL and Anderson, MI (2006) A role for terrain slope in orienting hippocampal place fields. Experimental Brain Research,169(2):218-25 pdf

  • Chakraborty, S, Anderson, MI, Chaudhry, A, Mumford, J and Jeffery, KJ (2004) Context-independent directional cue learning by hippocampal place cells. European Journal of Neuroscience, 20(1): 281-292 pdf

  • Etienne, AS and Jeffery, KJ (2004) Path integration in mammals. Hippocampus, 14: 180-192 pdf

  • Jeffery, KJ and O'Keefe, J (1999) Learned interaction of visual and idiothetic cues in the control of place field orientation. Experimental Brain Research 127: 151-161 pdf

  • Jeffery, KJ (1998) Learning of landmark stability and instability by hippocampal place cells. Neuropharmacology, 37: 677-687 pdf

  • Jeffery, KJ, Donnett, JG, Burgess, N and O’Keefe, JM (1997) Directional control of the orientation of hippocampal place fields. Experimental Brain Research, 117: 131-142 pdf