Boundary vector cells in the goldfish central telencephalon encode spatial information
Open accessAbstract
Navigation is one of the most fundamental cognitive skills for the survival of fish, the largest vertebrate class, and almost all other animal classes. Space encoding in single neurons is a critical component of the neural basis of navigation. To study this fundamental cognitive component in fish, we recorded the activity of neurons in the central area of the goldfish telencephalon while the fish were freely navigating in a quasi-2D water tank embedded in a 3D environment. We found spatially modulated neurons with firing patterns that gradually decreased with the distance of the fish from a boundary in each cell’s preferred direction, resembling the boundary vector cells found in the mammalian subiculum. Many of these cells exhibited beta rhythm oscillations. This type of spatial representation in fish brains is unique among space-encoding cells in vertebrates and provides insights into spatial cognition in this lineage.
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Cells fundamental to spatial cognition in mammals-for example, place cells-have yet to be established in any fish species.
“cells fundamental to spatial cognition in mammals—for example, place cells (PCs)5,6—have yet to be established in any fish species”
From A population code for spatial representation in the zebrafish telencephalon (2024) · cites this paper as [20]
The Introduction says that no activity in a specific place field was found in goldfish, while noting that place cells are established in mammals. It does not establish their absence in every fish species; the paper also reports other spatially modulated cells in goldfish. (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredBVCs, but not PCs, have been identified in the goldfish telencephalon.
“Lastly, BVCs, but not PCs, have been identified in the goldfish telencephalon20.”
From A population code for spatial representation in the zebrafish telencephalon (2024) · cites this paper as [20]
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- Authors
- Cohen, L., Vinepinsky, E., Donchin, O., & Segev, R.
- Affiliations
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (IL)
- Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Cohen, Lear
- Vinepinsky, Ehud
- Donchin, Opher
- Segev, Ronen
- Venue
- PLOS Biology
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2023-04-25
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- e3001747
- ISSN
- 1544-9173 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-7885
- PMC
- PMC10128963
- OpenAlex
- W4366982093
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 11
- FWCI
- 5.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Israel Science Foundation (281/15, 555/19, 211/15)
- Human Frontier Science Program (RGP0016/2019)
- Helmsley Charitable Trust
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish biology, ecology, and behavior
- Keywords
- goldfish, spatial navigation, subiculum, fish cognition, spatial representation, neuronal firing patterns
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cognition, Goldfish, Hippocampus, Mammals, Neurons, Space Perception, Spatial Navigation
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