A Model of the Neural Basis of the Rat's Sense of Direction,

Abstract

In the last decade the outlines of the neural structures subserving the sense of direction have begun to emerge. Several investigations have shed light on the effects of vestibular input and visual input on the head direction representation. In this paper, a model is formulated of the neural mechanisms underlying the head direction system. The model is built out of simple ingredients, depending on nothing more complicated than connectional specificity, attractor dynamics, Hebbian learning and sigmoidal nonlinearities, but it behaves in a sophisticated way and is consistent with most of the observed properties of real head direction cells. In addition it makes a number of predictions that ought to be testable by reasonably straightforward experiments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1994
Accession Number
ADA289678

Entities

People

  • Hemant S. Kudrimoti
  • James J. Knierim
  • William E. Skaggs

Organizations

  • University of Arizona

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Biological Sciences
  • Brain
  • Cold Water
  • Dead Reckoning
  • Detectors
  • Directional
  • Eye Movements
  • Firing Rate
  • Information Processing
  • Information Systems
  • Learning
  • Navigation
  • Orientation (Direction)
  • Rotation
  • Thalamus
  • Training

Readers

  • Neural Network Machine Learning.
  • Neuroscience
  • Systems Analysis and Design