1. Neuroscience

A spatial memory signal shows that the parietal cortex has access to a craniotopic representation of space

  1. Mulugeta Semework  Is a corresponding author
  2. Sara C Steenrod
  3. Michael E Goldberg
  1. Columbia University, United States
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30762
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  1. Mulugeta Semework
  2. Sara C Steenrod
  3. Michael E Goldberg
(2018)
A spatial memory signal shows that the parietal cortex has access to a craniotopic representation of space
eLife 7:e30762.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30762
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Abstract

Humans effortlessly establish a gist-like memory of their environment whenever they enter a new place, a memory that can guide action even in the absence of vision. Neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) of the monkey exhibit a form of this environmental memory. These neurons respond when a monkey makes a saccade that brings the spatial location of a stimulus that appeared on a number of prior trials, but not on the present trial, into their receptive fields (RFs). The stimulus need never have appeared in the neuron's RF. This memory response is usually weaker, with a longer latency than the neuron's visual response. We suggest that these results demonstrate that LIP has access to a supraretinal memory of space, which is activated when the spatial location of the vanished stimulus can be described by a retinotopic vector from the center of gaze to the remembered spatial location.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Mulugeta Semework

    Mahoney-Keck Center for Brain and Behavior Research, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, United States
    For correspondence
    mulugetas@gmail.com
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-6070-0119

  2. Sara C Steenrod

    Mahoney-Keck Center for Brain and Behavior Research, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7932-7385

  3. Michael E Goldberg

    Mahoney-Keck Center for Brain and Behavior Research, Department of Neuroscience, Columbia University, New York, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-0728-2464

Funding

National Eye Institute (R24 EY-015634)

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Eye Institute (R01 EY-017039)

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Eye Institute (P30 EY-019007)

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Eye Institute (R01 EY-014978)

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2T32MH015174-35)

  • Mulugeta Semework

W. M. Keck Foundation

  • Michael E Goldberg

Gatsby Charitable Foundation

  • Michael E Goldberg

Fight for Sight

  • Michael E Goldberg

Dana Foundation

  • Michael E Goldberg

Kavli Foundation

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Eye Institute (R21 EY-017938)

  • Michael E Goldberg

National Eye Institute (R21 EY-020631)

  • Michael E Goldberg

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Joshua I Gold, University of Pennsylvania, United States

Ethics

Animal experimentation: The Animal Care and Use Committees at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute approved all of the animal protocols in this study as complying with the guidelines established in the United States Public Health Service Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. protocol NYSPI-1225-C

Version history

  1. Received: July 26, 2017
  2. Accepted: February 15, 2018
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: February 16, 2018 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: March 2, 2018 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2018, Semework et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Mulugeta Semework
  2. Sara C Steenrod
  3. Michael E Goldberg
(2018)
A spatial memory signal shows that the parietal cortex has access to a craniotopic representation of space
eLife 7:e30762.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30762

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.30762

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