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Evidence for entorhinal and parietal cortices involvement in path integration in the rat

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Abstract

Rats with lesions of the entorhinal or parietal cortex were tested in a homing task on a circular platform containing food cups and surrounded by curtains. The animals had to leave a refuge, explore the platform to find a hidden piece of food and carry it back to the refuge. Once the rats were proficient at performing the procedural aspects of the task, they were tested in two successive types of trials in which the food pellet was either always located in the central cup (food at center, “FAC” trials) or placed in a randomly chosen cup (food at random, “FAR” trials). Except in the first FAC trials, all groups displayed similar outward paths in FAC and FAR trials, showing that both types of trials involved equivalent path integration demand. Analysis of the homing accuracy showed that rats with entorhinal cortex or parietal cortex lesions exhibited inaccurate returns to the starting hole, suggesting that these two cortical areas are part of a neural network mediating path integration.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by a grant from the French Ministry of Education and Research. We thank B. Poucet for stimulating discussion, H. Lucchessi for histological work, and two anonymous referees for their insightful comments.

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  1. Laboratory of Neurobiology and Cognition, CNRS-Université de Provence, 31 chemin Joseph-Aiguier, 13402 , Marseille Cedex 20, France

    Carole Parron & Etienne Save

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  1. Carole Parron
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  2. Etienne Save
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Correspondence to Etienne Save.

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Parron, C., Save, E. Evidence for entorhinal and parietal cortices involvement in path integration in the rat. Exp Brain Res 159, 349–359 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-004-1960-8

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