RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Cognitive Strategies Dependent on the Hippocampus and Caudate Nucleus in Human Navigation: Variability and Change with Practice
JF The Journal of Neuroscience
JO J. Neurosci.
FD Society for Neuroscience
SP 5945
OP 5952
DO 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.23-13-05945.2003
VO 23
IS 13
A1 Giuseppe Iaria
A1 Michael Petrides
A1 Alain Dagher
A1 Bruce Pike
A1 Véronique D. Bohbot
YR 2003
UL http://www.jneurosci.org/content/23/13/5945.abstract
AB The human brain activity related to strategies for navigating in space and how it changes with practice was investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Subjects used two different strategies to solve a place-learning task in a computer-generated virtual environment. One-half of the subjects used spatial landmarks to navigate in the early phase of training, and these subjects showed increased activation of the right hippocampus. The other half used a nonspatial strategy and showed, with practice, sustained increased activity within the caudate nucleus during navigation. Activation common to both groups was observed in the posterior parietal and frontal cortex. These results provide the first evidence for spontaneous variability and shift in neural mechanisms during navigation in humans.