The Postsubiculum Is Necessary for Spatial Alternation but Not for Homing by Path Integration

Citation

Bett D, Wood ER & Dudchenko P (2012) The Postsubiculum Is Necessary for Spatial Alternation but Not for Homing by Path Integration. Behavioral Neuroscience, 126 (2), pp. 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027163

Abstract
The postsubiculum is a structure of interest because it projects to the hippocampal formation and contains head direction cells, grid cells, and border cells. The aim of the current experiment was to test whether the postsubiculum is necessary for homing by path integration. Rats were trained on a homing task on a large circular platform. After exhibiting stable homing, one group of animals (n = 6) received ibotenic acid lesions of the postsubiculum, and a second (n = 5) underwent a control surgery. After recovery, animals with postsubiculum lesions homed as accurately as the control animals. Subsequent testing on a delayed alternation T maze task showed that the lesioned animals were significantly worse than the control animals at delays of 5-, 30-, and 60-s. These findings suggest that the postsubiculum is necessaryfor memory and avoidance of previously visited locations but is not necessary for homing.

Keywords
Postsubiculum; Presubiculum; Path Integration; Spatial memory; Homing; Delayed alternation

Journal
Behavioral Neuroscience: Volume 126, Issue 2

People

Professor Paul Dudchenko

Professor, Psychology