Clarendon Laboratory, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU
Professor Vijay Balasubramanian
Joy Blanchard at tpadmin@physics.ox.ac.uk
How the brain maps space
Abstract: Space is a concept that is fundamental to all branches of physics; it is also central to neuroscience. Indeed, animal life is defined by the ability to navigate in space. Humans think not only about physical space but also about abstract spaces that allow us to geometrize complex problems. Inside our heads, the brain represents space as a pattern of neural firing, produced and maintained by circuits in a group of brain regions called the "hippocampal formation." In this talk, I will describe progress towards a theory of organization of the circuits and systems that build the brain's internal description of space. I will compare the predictions of theory to experimental data, and discuss how the brain self-organizes to produce a cognitive map: a way of imagining location in physical and abstract spaces.