Mapping of a non-spatial dimension by the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit

During spatial navigation, neural activity in the hippocampus and the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) is correlated to navigational variables such as location(1,2), head direction(3), speed(4), and proximity to boundaries(5). These activity patterns are thought to provide a map-like representation of physical space. However, the hippocampal-entorhinal circuit is involved not only in spatial navigation, but also in a variety of memory-guided behaviours(6). The relationship between this general function and the specialized spatial activity patterns is unclear. A conceptual framework reconciling these views is that spatial representation is just one example of a more general mechanism for encoding continuous, task-relevant variables(7-10). Here we tested this idea by recording from hippocampal and entorhinal neurons during a task that required rats to use a joystick to manipulate sound along a continuous frequency axis. We found neural representation of the entire behavioural task, including activity that formed discrete firing fields at particular sound frequencies. Neurons involved in this representation overlapped with the known spatial cell types in the circuit, such as place cells and grid cells. These results suggest that common circuit mechanisms in the hippocampal-entorhinal system are used to represent diverse behavioural tasks, possibly supporting cognitive processes beyond spatial navigation.