Abstract
Place cells are considered to be the basic unit of cognitive maps, which play an important role in spatial cognition for many animals. To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying spatial cognition in birds, we designed four spatial cognitive tasks with or without goals, using pigeons as an animal model. We examined place cells in the hippocampus of 12 pigeons while they performed each task. We measured their spatial response properties and comparatively analyzed place field properties between tasks with and without goals using qualitative and quantitative measures. The results revealed that the reliability of place fields increased when the presence of a goal was clearer, and that place fields were more easily activated in tasks with a goal compared with those with no goal. In addition, we found that place cells in the hippocampus generally possessed multiple place fields, with an average of 2.7 place fields for each place cell. Place fields recorded simultaneously were always located in a similar position, and most exhibited overlapping regions. These results will be helpful for extending our understanding of the mechanisms underlying spatial cognition in different species, and provide a foundation for future studies investigating three-dimensional spatial cognition and navigation mechanisms in pigeons.
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