The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is involved in a broad range of cognitive functions, integrating rich sensory, motor, and spatial signals from multiple brain areas, including the hippocampal system. RSC neurons show hippocampus-dependent activity reminiscent of place cell sequences. Using cellular calcium imaging in a virtual reality (VR)-based locomotion task, we investigate how the integration of visual and locomotor inputs may give rise to such activity in RSC. A substantial population shows neural sequences that track position in the VR environment. This activity is driven by the conjunction of visual stimuli sequences and active movement, which is suggestive of path integration. The activity is anchored to a reference point and predominantly follows the VR upon manipulations of optic flow against locomotion. Thus, locomotion-gated optic flow, combined with the presence of contextual cues at the start of each trial, is sufficient to drive the sequential activity. A subpopulation shows landmark-related visual responses that are modulated by animal's position in the VR. Thus, rather than fragmenting the spatial representation into equivalent locomotion-based ensemble versus optic-flow-based ensemble, in RSC, optic flow appears to override locomotion signals coherently in the population, when the gain between the two signals is altered.

中文翻译：

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视觉和运动相结合以驱动小鼠脾后皮层中的路径整合序列。

脾后皮层 (RSC) 参与广泛的认知功能，整合来自多个大脑区域（包括海马系统）的丰富感觉、运动和空间信号。RSC 神经元显示出海马依赖性活动，让人联想到位置细胞序列。在基于虚拟现实 (VR) 的运动任务中使用细胞钙成像，我们研究了视觉和运动输入的整合如何在 RSC 中引起这种活动。大量人口显示了跟踪 VR 环境中位置的神经序列。这种活动是由视觉刺激序列和主动运动的结合驱动的，这暗示了路径整合。该活动被锚定到一个参考点，并且主要是在操纵光流对抗运动时跟随 VR。因此，运动门控光流，结合每次试验开始时存在的上下文线索，足以驱动顺序活动。一个亚群显示出与地标相关的视觉反应，这些反应受 VR 中动物位置的调节。因此，在 RSC 中，当两个信号之间的增益改变时，光流似乎会一致地覆盖种群中的运动信号，而不是将空间表示分解为等效的基于运动的集成与基于光流的集成。