Hippocampal and prefrontal processing of network topology to simulate the future

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Date
2017Type
- Journal Article
Citations
Cited 91 times in
Web of Science
Cited 103 times in
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Abstract
Topological networks lie at the heart of our cities and social milieu. However, it remains unclear how and when the brain processes topological structures to guide future behaviour during everyday life. Using fMRI in humans and a simulation of London (UK), here we show that, specifically when new streets are entered during navigation of the city, right posterior hippocampal activity indexes the change in the number of local topological connections available for future travel and right anterior hippocampal activity reflects global properties of the street entered. When forced detours require re-planning of the route to the goal, bilateral inferior lateral prefrontal activity scales with the planning demands of a breadth-first search of future paths. These results help shape models of how hippocampal and prefrontal regions support navigation, planning and future simulation. Show more
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https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000130108Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Nature CommunicationsVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupOrganisational unit
03987 - Hölscher, Christoph / Hölscher, Christoph
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Citations
Cited 91 times in
Web of Science
Cited 103 times in
Scopus
ETH Bibliography
yes
Altmetrics