Spatial representation and computation

Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex are active when an animal visits multiple locations. Remarkably, these locations are arranged on the vertices of a triangular lattice that tiles the plane. We investigate theoretically mechanisms that may underlie the emergence and dynamics of grid cell activity, the interaction of grid cells with other spatially selective cells in the hippocampal formation, and their possible computational role in the brain.

Selected publications

Waaga T. (*), Agmon H. (*), Normand V.A., Nagelhus A., Gardner R.J., Moser M.-B., Moser E.I., Burak Y.
Grid-cell modules remain coordinated when neural activity is dissociated from external sensory cues.
* Equal contributors.
Neuron (2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2022.03.011. Link

Gardner R.J., Hermansen E., Pachitariu M., Burak Y., Baas N.A., Dunn B.A., Moser M.-B., Moser E.I.
Toroidal topology of population activity in grid cells.
Nature (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04268-7. Link

Ginosar G., Aljadeff J., Burak Y., Sompolinsky, H., Las, L., Ulanovsky, N.
Locally ordered representation of 3D space in the entorhinal cortex.
Nature (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s4158

Agmon H., Burak Y.
A theory of joint attractor dynamics in the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex accounts for artificial remapping and grid cell field-to-field variability.
eLife 9, e56894. Link

Mosheiff N., Burak Y.
Velocity coupling of grid cell modules: stable embedding of a low dimensional variable in a high dimensional neural attractor
bioRxiv 651513 (2019). LINK

Mosheiff, N, Agmon H, Moriel A, Burak Y.
An efficient coding theory for a dynamic trajectory predicts non-uniform allocation of entorhinal grid cells to modules.
PLoS Computational Biology 13, e1005597 (2017). LINK

Burak Y.
Spatial coding and attractor dynamics of grid cells in the entorhinal cortex.
Current Opinion in Neurobiology 25, 169 (2014). F1000 Recommended. LINK

Burak Y., Fiete I. R.,
Accurate Path Integration in Continuous Attractor Network Models of Grid Cells.
PLoS Computational Biology 5, e1000291 (2009). LINK

Fiete I. R., Burak Y., Brookings T.
What grid cells convey about rat location.
The Journal of Neuroscience 28, 6858 (2008). LINK

Welinder P.E., Burak Y., Fiete I. R.
Grid cells: the position code, neural network models of activity, and the problem of learning.
Hippocampus 18, 1283 (2008). LINK

Burak Y., Fiete I. R.
Do we understand the emergent dynamics of grid cell activity?
The Journal of neuroscience 26, 9352 (2006). LINK