Topic: spatial cognition

Rainer Friedrich presents closed-loop, high-resolution virtual reality for head-fixed adult zebrafish, linking spatial cognition to telencephalic circuits. Behavioural training, two-photon imaging and circuit-level methods reveal how functional neuron types represent virtual environments and how experience refines those representations. Virtual-environment manipulations test cognitive inference and prediction, connecting internal models used in navigation and planning to neural organisation.

Mammals instinctively explore and form mental maps of their spatial environments. Models of cognitive mapping in neuroscience mostly depict map-learning as a process of random or biased diffusion. In practice, however, animals explore spaces using structured, purposeful, sensory-guided actions. We have used threat-evoked escape behavior in mice to probe the relationship between ethological exploratory behavior and abstract spatial cognition. First, we show that in arenas with obstacles and a shelter, mice spontaneously learn efficient multi-step escape routes by memorizing allocentric subgoal

The reciprocal connectivity of the nucleus reuniens (RE) of the ventral midline thalamus with the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus (HC) is suggestive of the RE being a critical node within a large-scale brain network underlying spatial cognition. The RE activity has been implicated in navigation, decision making, and spatial memory consolidation. We have previously shown that the RE activity is critical for the retrieval of spatial memory. Yet, the network mechanisms of the RE contribution to the extended prefrontal-thalamo-hippocampal circuit remain to be explored. It has been suggeste