Modeling Attractor Deformation in the Rodent Head-Direction System

2000/06/01 by Jeremy P. Goodridge, David S. Touretzky · 97 citations
Mathematics · Neuroscience · #Anatomy #Attractor #Biology #Computer science #Head (geology) #Inhibitory postsynaptic potential #Mammillary body #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Memory and Neural Mechanisms #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neuroscience #Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research #Nucleus #Physics #Thalamus

paper · doi:10.1152/jn.2000.83.6.3402

published in Journal of Neurophysiology 83(6), 3402-3410 (American Physiological Society)

openalex publication_date 2000/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We present a model of the head-direction circuit in the rat that improves on earlier models in several respects. First, it provides an account of some of the unique characteristics of head-direction (HD) cell firing in the lateral mammillary nucleus and the anterior thalamus. Second, the model functions without making physiologically unrealistic assumptions. In particular, it implements attractor dynamics in postsubiculum and lateral mammillary nucleus without directionally tuned inhibitory neurons, which have never been observed in vivo, and it integrates angular velocity without the use of multiplicative synapses. The model allows us to examine the relationships among three HD areas and various properties of their representations. A surprising result is that certain combinations of purported HD cell properties are mutually incompatible, suggesting that the lateral mammillary nucleus may not be the primary source of head direction input to anterior thalamic HD cells.

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• Neural correlates for angular head velocity in the rat dorsal tegmental nucleus. [europepmc]
• Angular path integration by moving "hill of activity": a spiking neuron model without recurrent excitation of the head-direction system. [europepmc]
• Degradation of head direction cell activity during inverted locomotion. [europepmc]
• A spin glass model of path integration in rat medial entorhinal cortex. [europepmc]
• Backward shift of head direction tuning curves of the anterior thalamus: comparison with CA1 place fields. [europepmc]
• Remembering the past and imagining the future: a neural model of spatial memory and imagery. [europepmc]
• Persistent firing supported by an intrinsic cellular mechanism in a component of the head direction system. [europepmc]
• Cholinergic modulation of the CAN current may adjust neural dynamics for active memory maintenance, spatial navigation and time-compressed replay. [europepmc]
• Attractor dynamics of spatially correlated neural activity in the limbic system. [europepmc]
• Testing the Efficacy of Single-Cell Stimulation in Biasing Presubicular Head Direction Activity. [europepmc]
• Why acute unilateral vestibular midbrain lesions rarely manifest with rotational vertigo: a clinical and modelling approach to head direction cell function. [europepmc]
• Equilibrium States and Their Stability in the Head-Direction Ring Network. [europepmc]
• The head direction circuit of two insect species. [europepmc]
• An On-chip Spiking Neural Network for Estimation of the Head Pose of the iCub Robot. [europepmc]
• The Role of Idiothetic Signals, Landmarks, and Conjunctive Representations in the Development of Place and Head-Direction Cells: A Self-Organizing Neural Network Model. [europepmc]
• Angular and linear speed cells in the parahippocampal circuits. [europepmc]
• The Neural Correlates of Spatial Disorientation in Head Direction Cells. [europepmc]
• Global inhibition in head-direction neural circuits: a systematic comparison between connectome-based spiking neural circuit models. [europepmc]
• Short-term postsynaptic plasticity facilitates predictive tracking in continuous attractors. [europepmc]
• From British Associationism to the Hippocampal Cognitive Map: A Personal View From a Ringside Seat at the Cognitive/PDP Revolution. [europepmc]
• Explicit error coding can mediate gain recalibration in continuous bump attractor networks. [europepmc]
• [A head direction cell model based on a spiking neural network with landmark-free calibration]. [europepmc]

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