Effect of boundaries on grid cell patterns

Abstract

Mammalian grid cells represent spatial locations in the brain via triangular firing patterns that tessellate the environment. They are regarded as the biological substrate for path integration and to provide an efficient code for space. However, grid cell patterns are strongly influenced by environmental manipulations, in particular, exhibiting local geometrical deformations and defects tied to the shape of the recording enclosure, challenging the view that grid cells constitute a universal code for space. We show that the observed responses to environmental manipulations arise as a natural result under the general framework of feedforward models with spatially unstructured feedback inhibition, which puts the development of triangular patterns in the context of a Turing pattern formation process over physical space. The model produces coherent neuronal populations with equal grid spacing, field size, and orientation.