NB-CNS Seminar - Daniel Dombeck

Abstract: The Dombeck Lab studies rodent spatial navigation, essentially how animals get from point A to point B in their environments, how they know where they are in relation to their surroundings and how they form and retrieve spatial memories. To accomplish these goals, mammals form a representation of their local environment inside their brains using different specialized neurons residing in different brain structures, such as place cells in the hippocampus, which are active in specific locations of the environment. I will discuss questions such as What spaces can be mapped by these cells? How are multiple sensory modalities integrated to form spatial representations? What defines a space, what are the minimum requirements? and, What is the use of a cognitive map anyway?