The sensori-motor model of the hippocampal place cells

Abstract

Hippocampal place cells are important in spatial navigation as their place specific firing provides a spatial map of the environment. Empirically, the place cell firing pattern seems to be determined by both the sensory and the motor inputs. However, the current models of the place cells assign either the sensory or the motor integration as the reason for their firing. In this paper, we propose an explanation for place cell firing based on integration of both sensory (vision, auditory, olfactory etc.) and motor inputs (through grid cells which process head direction cell and vestibular inputs). The inspiration for this model is the difference in visual information processing in animals with and without binocular vision, and empirical observations from the hippocampal formation in animals.