Entorhinal grid-like codes and time-locked network dynamics track others navigating through space
- Author(s)
- Isabella Wagner, Luise Philine Graichen, Boryana Todorova, André Lüttig, David B. Omer, Matthias Stangl, Claus Lamm
- Abstract
Navigating through crowded, dynamically changing environments requires the ability to keep track of other individuals. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex are a central component of self-related navigation but whether they also track others’ movement is unclear. Here, we propose that entorhinal grid-like codes make an essential contribution to socio-spatial navigation. Sixty human participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while observing and re-tracing different paths of a demonstrator that navigated a virtual reality environment. Results revealed that grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex tracked the other individual navigating through space. The activity of grid-like codes was time-locked to increases in co-activation and entorhinal-cortical connectivity that included the striatum, the hippocampus, parahippocampal and right posterior parietal cortices. Surprisingly, the grid-related effects during observation were stronger the worse participants performed when subsequently re-tracing the demonstrator’s paths. Our findings suggests that network dynamics time-locked to entorhinal grid-cell-related activity might serve to distribute information about the location of others throughout the brain.
- Organisation(s)
- Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science, Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology
- External organisation(s)
- Hebrew University Jerusalem, University of California, Los Angeles
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Volume
- 14
- ISSN
- 2041-1723
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-35819-3
- Publication date
- 2023
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 301407 Neurophysiology, 501014 Neuropsychology, 303039 Radiological technology, 106025 Neurobiology
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General, Physics and Astronomy(all), Chemistry(all), Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/entorhinal-gridlike-codes-and-timelocked-network-dynamics-track-others-navigating-through-space(29122385-b208-40ed-8261-f150d105fa19).html