![]() ![]() During the recordings, the goldfish could freely explore a water tank along its vertical and horizontal axes (see Fig 1A). To probe navigation in fish, we recorded multiple single-cell activities from the central area of the goldfish telencephalon. This might imply that information about position in space is encoded in the fish brain differently than the locally activated cells shown to exist in 3D environments in bats and rats. Furthermore, unlike flying animals, fish are subjected to a steep pressure gradient while navigating in the vertical dimension of their environment. Fish navigate in full 3D, unlike terrestrial animals that are limited by the vertical dimension of their world. Navigation in aquatic environments is unique for several reasons. One fundamental difference between fish and other vertebrates is the environment in which they navigate in. For this purpose, it is crucial to determine how position is represented in the brain of fish, the largest vertebrate class. This can shed light on whether the mammalian model is valid for all vertebrates or whether different classes evolved different computational schemes. Therefore, a comparative approach is needed to better understand the fundamental mechanisms of spatial cognition across vertebrates. In addition, no evidence of rhythmic neural oscillations associated with navigation has been found in the goldfish comparable to those in the theta frequency range of the mammalian hippocampal formation. However, no evidence of neuronal activity in a specific place field was found, although place cells have been identified in many studies in mammals and recently were also reported to exist in birds. The findings in goldfish include cells that encode the environment’s edges, the fish’s head direction, speed, and velocity. The homology of this brain region between fish and the mammalian hippocampal formation is supported by anatomical and lesion studies. These spatial cells include the grid cells, and the head direction cells, which encode the animal’s allocentric head direction.Ī recent study described the existence of single cells that encode spatial and kinematic features of the environment in the goldfish lateral pallium. Later, boundary-vector cells that encode proximity to allocentric boundaries were found, together with other spatial cell types in the brain areas connected to the hippocampus (e.g., the entorhinal cortex and the subiculum). After the discovery of place cells, the existence of boundary vector cells was hypothesized to explain the dependency of place cells on environment borders. These cells are activated once the animal is in the cell’s preferred location (place field) in the environment. The place cell found in the hippocampus of rats was the first spatial cell type to be identified. Studies in navigating mammals have identified several types of neurons that encode self-position and locomotion in the hippocampal formation. This ability requires encoding information about self-position and locomotion. Supracommissural nucleus of area ventralis Vv,įor most animals, the ability to locate themselves in the environment is crucial for survival. Rostral part of medial subdivision of area dorsalis Vd, Medial subdivision of area dorsalis Dmc,Ĭaudal part of medial subdivision of area dorsalis Dmr, Ventral subdivision of lateral division of area dorsalis Dlv-d, The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Ĭompeting interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.ĭorsal subdivision of lateral division of area dorsalis Dlv, 211/15 to RS), The Human Frontiers Science Foundation Grant (RGP0016/2019 to RS), and the Helmsley Charitable Trust through the Agricultural, Biological and Cognitive Robotics Initiative of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (OD and RS). 555/19 to RS), THE ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (Grant no. ![]() 281/15 to RS and OD), THE ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION-FIRST Program (Grant no. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.ĭata Availability: All data in now available on GitHub:, and in Zenodo: DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7684281.įunding: We gratefully acknowledge financial support from THE ISRAEL SCIENCE FOUNDATION-FIRST Program (Grant no. ![]() Received: JAccepted: MaPublished: April 25, 2023Ĭopyright: © 2023 Cohen et al. PLoS Biol 21(4):Īcademic Editor: Jozsef Csicsvari, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, AUSTRIA Citation: Cohen L, Vinepinsky E, Donchin O, Segev R (2023) Boundary vector cells in the goldfish central telencephalon encode spatial information. ![]()
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