Path integration is a navigational process that humans and animals use to track changes in their position and orientation. Animal and computational studies suggest that a spatially-tuned navigation system supports path integration, yet this system is not well understood in humans. Here, the prediction was tested that path integration mechanisms and goal-directed navigation in humans would recruit the same key brain regions within the parietal cortex and medial temporal lobes as predicted by animal and computational models. The three experiments described in this dissertation used behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging methods in 131 adults (18-35 years) to examine behavioral and brain correlates of navigation.
In a landmark-free environment, path integration mechanisms are utilized to update position and orientation to a goal. Experiment 1 examined neural correlates of these mechanisms in the human brain. The results demonstrated that successful first and third person perspective navigation recruited the anterior hippocampus. The posterior hippocampus was found to track distance and temporal proximity to a goal location. The retrosplenial and posterior parietal cortices were additionally recruited for successful goal-directed navigation.
In a landmark-rich environment, humans utilize route-based strategies to triangulate between their position, landmarks, and navigational goal. Experiment 2 contrasted path integration and landmark-based strategies by adding a solitary landmark to a sparse environment. The results demonstrated that successful navigation with and without an orienting landmark recruited the anterior hippocampus. Activity in the bilateral posterior hippocampus was modulated by larger triangulation between current position, landmark, and goal location during first person perspective navigation. The caudate nucleus was additionally recruited for landmark-based navigation.
Experiment 3 used functional connectivity methods coupled with two fMRI tasks to determine whether areas responsive to optic flow, specifically V3A, V6, and the human motion complex (hMT+), are functionally connected to brain regions recruited during first person perspective navigation. The results demonstrated a functional relationship between optic flow areas and navigationally responsive regions, including the hippocampus, retrosplenial, posterior parietal, and medial prefrontal cortices.
These studies demonstrate that goal-directed navigation is reliant upon a navigational system supported by hippocampal position computations and orientation calculations from the retrosplenial and posterior parietal cortices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/15179 |
| Date | 12 March 2016 |
| Creators | Sherrill, Katherine Rose McKnight |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | Attribution 4.0 International, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
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