My question is: Will grid cells (or place cells) form if you put a blind mice (from birth) in a completely odorless room? Has there been any research on this (I really searched and couldn’t find any answer). Anyone knows? anyone has Moser’s email address?
The reason I ask this, is I want to know how much of a grid cell can be due to instant clues (such as, oh my distance from the wall is this much, or oh the smell here is not a lot so I should be in the middle) and how much of it is due to sequence memory (internal walking, as in 10 seconds ago I walked this much, and then this much, and then this much).Of course, when I say this, I mean rat’s brain (or mice) is doing all of this unconsciously.
it would help, cause it would clear the fact (to some extent) if grid cells are SDRs that act as classifiers, or SDRs that have been fine tuned through long-term motor sequence dependencies fed right back into neocortex layers.
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blindness may interupt grid cells’ pattern
Reference
Absence of Visual Input Results in the Disruption of Grid Cell Firing in the Mouse
I know that some place cells’ activity is based on both existing neuronal circuits and animal previous experience. In addition, place cells is thought having a instant plasticity when rodent is in a new envieorment.
Reference:
Place Cells, Grid Cells, and Memory
May-Britt Moser, David C. Rowland, and Edvard I. Moser
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