Grid cells in entorhinal cortex (EC) encode an individual’s location in space and rely on environmental cues and self-motion cues derived from the individual’s body. Body-derived signals are also primary signals for the sense of self and based on integrated sensorimotor signals (proprioceptive, tactile, visual, motor) that have been shown to enhance self-centered processing. However, it is currently unknown whether such sensorimotor signals that modulate self-centered processing impact grid cells and spatial navigation. Integrating the online manipulation of bodily signals, to modulate self-centered processing, with a spatial navigation task and an fMRI measure to detect grid cell-like representation (GCLR) in humans, we report improved performance in spatial navigation and decreased GCLR in EC. This decrease in entorhinal GCLR was associated with an increase in retrosplenial cortex activity, which was correlated with participants’ navigation performance. These data link self-centered processes during spatial navigation to entorhinal and retrosplenial activity and highlight the role of different bodily factors at play when navigating in VR.

Since the emergence of Virtual Reality technology, it has been adopted in the field of neurology. While Virtual Reality has contributed to various rehabilitation approaches, its potential advantages, especially in diagnosis, have not yet been fully utilized. Moreover, new tides of the Metaverse are approaching rapidly, which will again boost public and research interest and the importance of immersive Virtual Reality technology. Nevertheless, accessibility to such technology for people with neurological disorders has been critically underexplored. Through this perspective paper, we will briefly look over the current state of the technology in neurological studies and then propose future research directions, which hopefully facilitate beneficial Virtual Reality studies on a wider range of topics in neurology.

Grid cells in entorhinal cortex (EC) encode an individual's location in space and rely on environmental cues and self-motion cues derived from the individual's body. Body-derived signals are also primary signals for the sense of self as located in space (i.e. bodily self-consciousness, BSC). However, it is currently unknown whether BSC impacts grid cell activity and how such changes relate to experimental modulations of BSC. Integrating BSC with a spatial navigation task and an fMRI measure to detect grid cell-like representation (GCLR) in humans, we report a robust GCLR modulation in EC when participants navigated during an enhanced BSC state. These changes were further associated with improved spatial navigation performance and increased activity in posterior parietal and retrosplenial cortex. These data link entorhinal grid cell activity with BSC and show that BSC modulates ego- versus allocentric spatial processes about an individual's location in space in a distributed spatial navigation system.