head-direction cell

a type of neuron that discharges as a function of the orientation of an animal’s head within the environment. Head-direction cells are located in several regions of the brain, including the thalamus and mammillary bodies of the limbic system and the entorhinal cortex and subiculum of the medial temporal lobe memory system. Each has a preferred direction of maximal firing, and their combined activity is influenced by visual and other sensory inputs, motor feedback signals, and internally generated cues from the vestibular system and other interoceptive and proprioceptive sources. It has been suggested that the information head-direction cells provide is used by the animal to map its external space and that this representation of the environment then guides the animal’s navigational and other spatial behavior. [initially discovered in rats in 1984 by neuroscientist James B. Ranck Jr.]

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Psychology term of the day

May 8th 2024

extremely low birth weight (ELBW)

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