Entorhinal grid-like codes and time-locked network dynamics track others navigating through space

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 231
• Main Authors: Wagner, Isabella C., Graichen, Luise P., Todorova, Boryana, Lüttig, Andre, Omer, David B., Stangl, Matthias, Lamm, Claus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 31.01.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 59/36; 59/57; 631/378; 631/378/2649; Brain; Brain mapping; Changing environments; Codes; Computer applications; Computer Systems; Corpus Striatum; Cortex (entorhinal); Cortex (parietal); Entorhinal Cortex; Environmental changes; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Head; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Magnetic resonance imaging; multidisciplinary; Navigation; Navigation behavior; Neostriatum; Neural networks; Neuroimaging; Neurosciences; Parahippocampal gyrus; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Tracing; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-35819-3

Navigating through crowded, dynamically changing environments requires the ability to keep track of other individuals. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex are a central component of self-related navigation but whether they also track others’ movement is unclear. Here, we propose that entorhinal grid-like codes make an essential contribution to socio-spatial navigation. Sixty human participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while observing and re-tracing different paths of a demonstrator that navigated a virtual reality environment. Results revealed that grid-like codes in the entorhinal cortex tracked the other individual navigating through space. The activity of grid-like codes was time-locked to increases in co-activation and entorhinal-cortical connectivity that included the striatum, the hippocampus, parahippocampal and right posterior parietal cortices. Surprisingly, the grid-related effects during observation were stronger the worse participants performed when subsequently re-tracing the demonstrator’s paths. Our findings suggests that network dynamics time-locked to entorhinal grid-cell-related activity might serve to distribute information about the location of others throughout the brain. Navigating through everyday environments requires the ability to keep track of others. Here, the authors show this ability is linked to grid-like codes in the human entorhinal cortex that signal the spatial paths other individuals take.