TY - JOUR
T1 - The avian hippocampus, homing in pigeons and the memory representation of large-scale space
AU - Bingman, Verner P.
AU - Gagliardo, Anna
AU - Hough, Gerald E.
AU - Ioalé, Paolo
AU - Kahn, Meghan C.
AU - Siegel, Jennifer J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Support for the research described in this paper has been generously provided by the National Science Foundation (IBN-0075891), National Institutes of Health and NATO. Much of the work was made possible by the extraordinary technical support of Andy Wickiser, and as always, we are very much grateful for his help.
PY - 2005/6
Y1 - 2005/6
N2 - The extraordinary navigational ability of homing pigeons provides a unique spatial cognitive system to investigate how the brain is able to represent past experiences as memory. In this paper, we first summarize a large body of lesion data in an attempt to characterize the role of the avian hippocampal formation (HF) in homing. What emerges from this analysis is the critical importance of HF for the learning of map-like, spatial representations of environmental stimuli used for navigation. We then explore some interesting properties of the homing pigeon HF, using for discussion the notion that the homing pigeon HF likely displays some anatomical or physiological specialization(s), compared to the laboratory rat, that account for its participation in homing and the representation of large-scale, environmental space. Discussed are the internal connectivity among HF subdivisions, the occurrence of neurogenesis, the presence of rhythmic theta activity and the electrophysiological profile of HF neurons. Comparing the characteristics of the homing pigeon HF with the hippocampus of the laboratory rat, two opposing perspectives can be supported. On the one hand, one could emphasize the subtle differences in the properties of the homing pigeon HF as possible departure points for exploring how the homing pigeon HF may be adapted for homing and the representation of large-scale space. Alternatively, one could emphasize the similarities with the rat hippocampus and suggest that, if homing pigeons represent space in a way different from rats, then the neural specializations that would account for the difference must lie outside HF. Only future research will determine which of these two perspectives offers a better approximation of the truth.
AB - The extraordinary navigational ability of homing pigeons provides a unique spatial cognitive system to investigate how the brain is able to represent past experiences as memory. In this paper, we first summarize a large body of lesion data in an attempt to characterize the role of the avian hippocampal formation (HF) in homing. What emerges from this analysis is the critical importance of HF for the learning of map-like, spatial representations of environmental stimuli used for navigation. We then explore some interesting properties of the homing pigeon HF, using for discussion the notion that the homing pigeon HF likely displays some anatomical or physiological specialization(s), compared to the laboratory rat, that account for its participation in homing and the representation of large-scale, environmental space. Discussed are the internal connectivity among HF subdivisions, the occurrence of neurogenesis, the presence of rhythmic theta activity and the electrophysiological profile of HF neurons. Comparing the characteristics of the homing pigeon HF with the hippocampus of the laboratory rat, two opposing perspectives can be supported. On the one hand, one could emphasize the subtle differences in the properties of the homing pigeon HF as possible departure points for exploring how the homing pigeon HF may be adapted for homing and the representation of large-scale space. Alternatively, one could emphasize the similarities with the rat hippocampus and suggest that, if homing pigeons represent space in a way different from rats, then the neural specializations that would account for the difference must lie outside HF. Only future research will determine which of these two perspectives offers a better approximation of the truth.
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U2 - 10.1093/icb/45.3.555
DO - 10.1093/icb/45.3.555
M3 - Article
C2 - 21676801
AN - SCOPUS:22844444573
SN - 1540-7063
VL - 45
SP - 555
EP - 564
JO - Integrative and Comparative Biology
JF - Integrative and Comparative Biology
IS - 3
ER -