Toroidal topology of population activity in grid cells

Abstract The medial entorhinal cortex is part of a neural system for mapping the position of an individual within a physical environment 1 . Grid cells, a key component of this system, fire in a characteristic hexagonal pattern of locations 2 , and are organized in modules 3 that collectively form a population code for the animal’s allocentric position 1 . The invariance of the correlation structure of this population code across environments 4,5 and behavioural states 6,7 , independent of specific sensory inputs, has pointed to intrinsic, recurrently connected continuous attractor networks (CANs) as a possible substrate of the grid pattern 1,8–11 . However, whether grid cell networks show continuous attractor…

• KF
  Kavli Foundation
• NT
  Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet
• GC
  Gatsby Charitable Foundation
• IS
  Israel Science Foundation
• NF
  Norges Forskningsråd

  Awards: 223262, 295721
• M
  Mattilsynet
• DO
  Division of Mathematical Sciences