Recalibration of path integration in hippocampal place cells

Hippocampal place cells are spatially tuned neurons that serve as elements of a “cognitive map” in the mammalian brain(1). To detect the animal’s location, place cells are thought to rely upon two interacting mechanisms: sensing the animal’s position relative to familiar landmarks(2,3) and measuring the distance and direction that the animal has traveled from previously occupied locations(4–7). The latter mechanism, known as path integration, requires a finely tuned gain factor that relates the animal’s self-movement to the updating of position on the internal cognitive map, with external landmarks necessary to correct positional error that accumulates(8,9). Path-integration-based models of hippocampal place cells and entorhinal grid cells treat the path integration gain as a constant(9–14), but behavioral evidence in humans suggests that the gain is modifiable(15). Here we show physiological evidence from hippocampal place cells that the path integration gain is indeed a highly plastic variable that can be altered by persistent conflict between self-motion cues and feedback from external landmarks. In a novel, augmented reality system, visual landmarks were moved in proportion to the animal’s movement on a circular track, creating continuous conflict with path integration. Sustained exposure to this cue conflict resulted in predictable and prolonged recalibration of the path integration gain, as estimated from the place cells after the landmarks were extinguished. We propose that this rapid plasticity keeps the positional update in register with the animal’s movement in the external world over behavioral timescales. These results also demonstrate that visual landmarks not only provide a signal to correct cumulative error in the path integration system(4,8,16–19), but also rapidly fine-tune the integration computation itself.