The orbitofrontal cortex maps future navigational goals

Abstract

Accurate navigation to a desired goal requires consecutive estimates of spatial relationships between the current position and future destination throughout the journey. Although neurons in the hippocampal formation can represent the position of an animal as well as its nearby trajectories1–7, their role in determining the destination of the animal has been questioned8,9. It is, thus, unclear whether the brain can possess a precise estimate of target location during active environmental exploration. Here we describe neurons in the rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) that form spatial representations persistently pointing to the subsequent goal destination of an animal throughout navigation. This destination coding emerges before the onset of navigation, without direct sensory access to a distal goal, and even predicts the incorrect destination of an animal at the beginning of an error trial. Goal representations in the OFC are maintained by destination-specific neural ensemble dynamics, and their brief perturbation at the onset of a journey led to a navigational error. These findings suggest that the OFC is part of the internal goal map of the brain, enabling animals to navigate precisely to a chosen destination that is beyond the range of sensory perception.

Spatial Learning Drives Rapid Goal Representation in Hippocampal Ripples without Place Field Accumulation or Goal-Oriented Theta Sequences

“…Together, these findings provide evidence that successful spatial navigation does not require enhanced representation of a distant goal location across the hippocampal network during active movement. Rather, goal representation appears to initially emerge during periods of immobility, when hippocampal networks may be able to synchronize activity of cortical networks implicated in goal representation (Basu et al, 2021;Hocker et al, 2021).…”

“…Recent work indicates that neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex can faithfully encode spatial information regarding distant goal locations (Basu et al, 2021;Hocker et al, 2021). Goal representation in the orbitofrontal cortex emerges before movement onset and is maintained throughout the entirety of goal-directed navigation (Basu et al, 2021).…”

“…Recent work indicates that neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex can faithfully encode spatial information regarding distant goal locations (Basu et al, 2021;Hocker et al, 2021). Goal representation in the orbitofrontal cortex emerges before movement onset and is maintained throughout the entirety of goal-directed navigation (Basu et al, 2021). Hippocampal activity in ripples is known to activate and coordinate activity across a large number of cortical networks (Logothetis et al, 2012;Shin et al, 2019;Abadchi et al, 2020).…”

Widespread coding of navigational variables in prefrontal cortex

“…A small but growing body of research suggests that, at least in rodents, there may be navigational functions outside of the hippocampal complex, including within the prefrontal cortex or its homologues (Patai & Spiers, 2021; Maisson et al, 2022). For example, neurons in somatosensory cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and piriform cortex encode current and future spatial positions as well as the location of targets in the environment (Basu et al, 2021; Long and Zhang, 2021; Poo et al, 2022; Wikenheiser et al, 2021). This work raises the possibility that navigational functions may likewise be widespread across the prefrontal cortex.…”

Are Grid-Like Representations a Component of All Perception and Cognition?

“…In addition to the traditional hippocampal-entorhinal system, many cortical-subcortical structures in the limbic circuits are involved in spatial memory and navigation, including the OFC, piriform cortex, and anterior thalamic nuclei (ATN) (O'Mara and Aggleton, 2019 ). Specifically, neurons in the rat OFC can form spatial representations of future goal destination in conjunction of location-selective tuning (as high as 80%) (Basu et al, 2021 ). Neurons in the rat piriform cortex have mixed tunings and can carry spatial representation of a learned cognitive map, in addition to the odor identity (Poo et al, 2022 ).…”