 |
||||
|
||||
|
||||
|
||||
Previous Article | Next Article
The Journal of Neuroscience, June 1, 1999, 19(11):4662-4673
Path Integration Absent in Scent-Tracking Fimbria-Fornix Rats: Evidence for Hippocampal Involvement in "Sense of Direction" and "Sense of Distance" Using Self-Movement Cues
Ian Q. Whishaw and Bogdan Gorny Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada T1K 3M4
Allothetic and idiothetic navigation strategies use very different cue constellations and computational processes. Allothetic navigation requires the use of the relationships between relatively stable external (visual, olfactory, auditory) cues, whereas idiothetic navigation requires the integration of cues generated by self-movement and/or efferent copy of movement commands. The flexibility with which animals can switch between these strategies and the neural structures that support these strategies are not well understood. By capitalizing on the proclivity of foraging rats to carry large food pellets back to a refuge for eating, the present study examined the contribution of the hippocampus to the use of allothetic versus idiothetic navigation strategies. Control rats and fimbria-fornix-ablated rats were trained to follow linear, polygonal, and octagonal scent trails that led to a piece of food. The ability of the rats to return to the refuge with the food via the shortest route using allothetic cues (visual cues and/or the odor trail available) or using ideothetic cues (the odor trail removed and the rats blindfolded or tested in infrared light) was examined. Control rats "closed the polygon" by returning directly home in all cue conditions. Fimbria-fornix rats successfully used allothetic cues (closed the polygon using visual cues or tracked back on the string) but were insensitive to the direction and distance of the refuge and were lost when restricted to idiothetic cues. The results support the hypothesis that the hippocampal formation is necessary for navigation requiring the integration of idiothetic cues.
Key words: allothetic cue; dead reckoning; idiothetic cue; fimbria-fornix; hippocampus; hippocampal lesions; odor tracking; path integration; piloting; spatial learning; spatial navigation
Copyright © 1999 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/99/19114662-12$05.00/0
This article has been cited by other articles:
D. G. Wallace, D. J. Hines, S. M. Pellis, and I. Q. Whishaw
Vestibular Information Is Required for Dead Reckoning in the Rat
J. Neurosci., November 15, 2002; 22(22): 10009 - 10017.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
J. H. Gorny, B. Gorny, D. G. Wallace, and I. Q. Whishaw
Fimbria-Fornix Lesions Disrupt the Dead Reckoning (Homing) Component of Exploratory Behavior in Mice
Learn. Mem., November 1, 2002; 9(6): 387 - 394.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
B. G. Cooper and S. J. Y. Mizumori
Temporary Inactivation of the Retrosplenial Cortex Causes a Transient Reorganization of Spatial Coding in the Hippocampus
J. Neurosci., June 1, 2001; 21(11): 3986 - 4001.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
A. Stuchlik, A. A. Fenton, and J. Bures
Substratal idiothetic navigation of rats is impaired by removal or devaluation of extramaze and intramaze cues
PNAS, March 13, 2001; 98(6): 3537 - 3542.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
J.F. Ross
ECOs, FOBs, and UFOs: Making Sense of Observational Data
Toxicol Pathol, January 1, 2000; 28(1): 132 - 136.
[Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|