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Medial Entorhinal Area (MEA)

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior
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Synonyms

Medial entorhinal cortex (MEC)

Definition

Medial entorhinal area (MEA) refers to the medial subfield of the entorhinal cortex (EC) of rodents, bats, and a number of mammals with similarly structured brains. Its homologue in human and nonhuman primates is more accurately defined along the posterior, rather than medial, region of the entorhinal cortex. This brain area consists of a six-layered network of interconnected neurons whose patterns of electrical activity are thought to support spatial cognition.

Introduction

To understand the role that the medial entorhinal area (MEA) plays in cognition and behavior, investigators have attempted to identify the principles of structural and functional organization that govern the electrical activity of this brain region. Efforts toward characterizing the cellular organization, or microcircuitry, of the MEA have notably succeeded in identifying a range of morphologically distinct cell types and in describing how these neurons’ cell...

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References

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Correspondence to Pamela D. Rivière .

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Rivière, P.D. (2018). Medial Entorhinal Area (MEA). In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1253-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1253-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47829-6

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