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Review
. 2008 Oct;12(10):388-96.
doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.07.004. Epub 2008 Aug 28.

Parahippocampal and retrosplenial contributions to human spatial navigation

Russell A Epstein  1
Affiliations
Review

Parahippocampal and retrosplenial contributions to human spatial navigation

Russell A Epstein. Trends Cogn Sci. 2008 Oct.

Abstract

Spatial navigation is a core cognitive ability in humans and animals. Neuroimaging studies have identified two functionally defined brain regions that activate during navigational tasks and also during passive viewing of navigationally relevant stimuli such as environmental scenes: the parahippocampal place area (PPA) and the retrosplenial complex (RSC). Recent findings indicate that the PPA and RSC have distinct and complementary roles in spatial navigation, with the PPA more concerned with representation of the local visual scene and RSC more concerned with situating the scene within the broader spatial environment. These findings are a first step towards understanding the separate components of the cortical network that mediates spatial navigation in humans.

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Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Location and basic response properties of the PPA and RSC
Brain maps showing the PPA and RSC are plotted on a reference anatomical brain in standard space. Orange voxels responded more strongly (p<0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons) to scenes than to nonscene objects in a random effects group analysis (N=38; previously unpublished data). Crossbars indicate the location of the PPA and RSC. Bar charts show the response in the PPA and RSC to six stimulus categories, plotted as percent signal change relative to a fixation (no-stimulation) baseline. For this analysis, the PPA and RSC were functionally defined on each subject is described previously (e.g. [102]). PPA clearly responds most strongly to scenes, although it is not completely unresponsive to other stimuli. RSC response is significantly above baseline for scenes, but significantly below baseline for other stimuli.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2. The Parahippocampal Place Area and scene encoding
a. Neuropsychological evidence for PPA involvement in scene recognition. A patient with right hemisphere parahippocampal damage was unable to recognize scenes unless they contained a single prominent object-like landmark, suggesting that patients with PPA damage can recognize large objects but not scenes per se [33]. b. Under the spatial layout hypothesis, the PPA encodes the overall spatial layout of the scene as defined by fixed topological features, while information about the individual objects in the scene is encoded in the lateral occipital complex, fusiform gyrus, and perirhinal cortex. When the PPA is damaged, patients report that they can see the objects in the scene but the overall organization of the scene is lost, suggesting that normal scene perception involves the integration of object and layout information. c. The PPA responds strongly to layout-defining scene features such as walls and ground planes. In particular, the PPA response to indoor scenes is not significantly changed by removing the objects, but is significantly reduced by removing the background [11]. Furthermore, PPA response to the Lego “scenes” is significantly greater than response to Lego “objects” [21].
Fig 3
Fig 3. RSC supports retrieval of long-term spatial knowledge
a. RSC activity corresponds to retrieval of long-term spatial knowledge. University of Pennsylvania students were scanned with fMRI while viewing photographs of their home campus (Penn), an unfamiliar campus, or nonscene objects [24]. For the home campus photographs, they either retrieved spatial information (location or orientation) about each scene or made a simple familiarity judgment. RSC response was stronger during location or orientation judgments than during familiarity judgments. Furthermore, RSC response was higher when viewing images of the familiar campus than when viewing images of the unfamiliar campus, even when task was controlled. These results demonstrate that RSC response is stronger when viewing scenes whose spatial surroundings are known (Penn Images) than when viewing scenes whose spatial surroundings are unknown (Not Penn Images) and is even further enhanced when subjects explicitly retrieve long-term spatial knowledge (e.g. location, orientation). Note that PPA response was unaffected by task or familiarity, consistent with its proposed role in local scene perception. (Significance symbols: †p<0.06, *p<0.05, ***p<0.001). b. RSC activity during learning of a virtual-reality town increases in tandem with subjects’ increasing survey knowledge about the town [58]. c. RSC damage leads to an inability to understand the relationship between egocentric and allocentric representations. Here one such patients was shown a photograph of the garden of her house, and was asked to determine the viewpoint from which the photograph was taken [74]. Her responses are indicated by arrows; the correct response is also noted. She was unable to perform this task accurately.
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