Action Information is Integrated into Entorhinal Representations of Conceptual Space and is Reflected in Eye Movements

Abstract

The hippocampal-entorhinal system represents relations between states in spatial and nonspatial cognitive maps. Critical to understanding how these memory representations are used for cognition is to determine whether the actions underlying state transitions are incorporated in entorhinal cognitive maps. Participants learned to transition between states using different actions, operationalized as mathematical operations. We found that the entorhinal cortex represented the afforded actions across the states. This action representation was not explained by other properties of the task space, such as link distance between the states or reaction times. Furthermore, gaze behavior reflected the direction of afforded actions in the horizontal axis, and the strength of this lateralization predicted both performance and entorhinal pattern similarities, suggesting a link between gaze behavior and neurocognitive mechanisms for navigating conceptual spaces. In sum, this study provides first evidence for the integration of action information into ocular and entorhinal representations of conceptual spaces, suggesting that these may not just map out experiences, but provide information about how to explore knowledge.