The present proposal is the initial step in understanding how avian species create working representations of space at the neural level The ability to learn spatial aspects of the environment is critical for survival, and is noted in a variety of species. However, the lifestyle of a species and its evolutionary history may effect-the fundamental ways in which the brain creates spatial representations at the neural level, and has not been adequately addressed. This grant will evaluate the electrophysiological activity of single units in the hippocampal formation (HF) of homing pigeons for place-specificity, direction-specificity.and spatial-view-specificity and any interactions. Although the avian HF is functionally homologous to the rat HF and has notable anatomical and neurochemical similarities, the lifestyle conditions under which each evolved has undoubtedly resulted in important differences. The present proposal will investigate single unit activity in a species that is highly visual and has evolved under diurnal conditions; in a brain area we know to be highly plastic and involved in spatial memory and cognition. Driven by behavioral observations during unit recordings in pigeons and recent work in the monkey hippocampus, it is predicted that the behavioral correlates of unit activity in the avian HF will be most highly correlated with spatial view, because of the highly visual nature of avian species.
| Siegel, Jennifer J; Nitz, Douglas; Bingman, Verner P (2006) Lateralized functional components of spatial cognition in the avian hippocampal formation: evidence from single-unit recordings in freely moving homing pigeons. Hippocampus 16:125-40 |
