I hope to see the papers soon to clarify my doubts* about this approach
*My main concern is that grid cells are in the Entorhinal cortex, which seems pretty integrated within the hippocampal function. I can’t reconcile the double copy of cortex/hippocampus and (SWR) learning cycles [1] with this vision. My wild guess is that grid cell is involved into that (v.gr. replay over the proper cortex region the hippocampus temporal content).
@vpuente From what I understand - Grid cell behavior has been documented in the hub areas of all cortical lobes; this does seem to be the Lingua franca between the hub areas.
My take is that the various hierarchies work to pick apart as many features as possible as the processing ascends the chain. The end product in the association areas is a vast constellation of points of features that are combined in the grid areas to signal abstracted meaning.
This take is slightly different than what has been offered as the new HTM canon but I am sticking with my interpretation for now.
This grid-like signal is not unique to the entorhinal cortex, but can be measured during spatial navigation in prescribed parts of the medial frontal, medial parietal and lateral temporal cortices. Despite no report in rodents of grid cells outside the hippocampal formation, direct recordings during brain surgery in humans have confirmed grid-like firing patterns in some of these areas. This same network of brain regions, often referred to as the ‘default mode network’, is also regularly activated in non-spatial tasks that involve the manipulation of conceptual knowledge, such as memory, imagination, scene construction, valuation and theory of mind, and in situations when subjects must generalize learnt concepts to novel situations.
This should address any objections to my assertions that hex-grid cells are found in hub areas of the cortex.
And more support: