Anterior Hippocampus and Goal-Directed Spatial Decision Making

Abstract

Planning spatial paths through our environment is an important part of everyday life and is supported by a neural system including the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Here we investigated the precise functional roles of the components of this system in humans by using fMRI as participants performed a simple goal-directed route-planning task. Participants had to choose the shorter of two routes to a goal in a visual scene that might contain a barrier blocking the most direct route, requiring a detour, or might be obscured by a curtain, requiring memory for the scene. The participant's start position was varied to parametrically manipulate their proximity to the goal and the difference in length of the two routes. Activity in medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and left posterior parietal cortex was associated with detour planning, regardless of difficulty, whereas activity in parahippocampal gyrus was associated with remembering the spatial layout of the visual scene. Activity in bilateral anterior hippocampal formation showed a strong increase the closer the start position was to the goal, together with medial prefrontal, medial and posterior parietal cortices. Our results are consistent with computational models in which goal proximity is used to guide subsequent navigation and with the association of anterior hippocampal areas with nonspatial functions such as arousal and reward expectancy. They illustrate how spatial and nonspatial functions combine within the anterior hippocampus, and how these functions interact with parahippocampal, parietal, and prefrontal areas in decision making and mnemonic function.

Functional organization of the hippocampal longitudinal axis

“…In rodents, ventral, but not dorsal, hippocampal stimulation increases locomotion [117][118] by engaging the NAc and mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system [119][120][121] , whereas inhibiting VH decreases locomotion 104 . This relationship with the NAc is also relevant to the observation that reward-or goal-directed functions localise to ventral parts of rodent hippocampus [122][123] and to the anterior human hippocampus 124 , given that the ventral striatum -in particular the NAc -is considered the 'limbic-motor interface' at which motivation-and emotion-related processing gains access to the motor system [125][126] . The rodent studies discussed above [117][118][119][120][121] examined dorsal vs. ventral functional dissociations, but the anatomical connectivity between the hippocampus and NAc in fact shows a graded topography 39 .…”

Comparison of Spatial Ability Between Male and Female Athletes

“…5 In addition to parietal lobe, hippocampus also has a role in spatial ability. 12 Other previous study found that hippocampus had greater activity in spatial ability. 12 It can be seen using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).…”

“…12 Other previous study found that hippocampus had greater activity in spatial ability. 12 It can be seen using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). 12 Uniquely, hippocampusis is more connected with parietal lobe on male, and temporal lobe on female.…”

“…12 It can be seen using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). 12 Uniquely, hippocampusis is more connected with parietal lobe on male, and temporal lobe on female. 9 Androgen hormone is mentioned as one of the important factors affecting spatial ability.…”

Topographic separation of fornical fibers associated with the anterior and posterior hippocampus in the human brain: An MRI‐diffusion study

“…The principal motivation to examine their topography arises from the growing evidence for functional differences along the anterior–posterior axis of the hippocampus (Collin, Milivojevic, & Doeller, 2015; Fanselow & Dong, 2010; Poppenk, Evensmoen, Moscovitch, & Nadel, 2013; Strange, Witter, Lein, & Moser, 2014). For instance, evidence from functional neuroimaging studies suggests a role of the posterior hippocampus in spatial navigation (e.g., Hartley, Maguire, Spiers, & Burgess, 2003), whereas anterior hippocampus has been associated with goal‐directed spatial decision making (Viard, Doeller, Hartley, Bird, & Burgess, 2011). Thus, a method that would allow the anatomical dissociation of fibers associated with anterior and posterior hippocampal regions in humans would aid the study of functional dissociation between these different hippocampal networks.…”