Orientational and Geometric Determinants of Place and Head-direction

The model can predict the response ofindividual cells and populations to parametric manipulations of both geometric (e.g.O'Keefe & Burgess, 1996) and orientational (Fenton et aI., 2000a) cues, extending a previous geometric model (Hartley et al., 2000). It provides a functional description of how these cells' spatial responses are derived from the rat's environment and makes easily testable quantitative predictions. Consideration ofthe phenomenon of remapping (Muller & Kubie, 1987; Bostock et aI., 1991) indicates that the model may also be consistent with nonparametric changesin firing, and provides constraints for its future development.