Several types of neurons involved in spatial navigation and memory encode the distance and direction (that is, the vector) between an agent and items in its environment. Such vectorial information provides a powerful basis for spatial cognition by representing the geometric relationships between the self and the external world. Here, we review the explicit encoding of vectorial information by neurons in and around the hippocampal formation, far from the sensory periphery. The parahippocampal, retrosplenial and parietal cortices, as well as the hippocampal formation and striatum, provide a plethora of examples of vector coding at the single neuron level. We provide a functional taxonomy of cells with vectorial receptive fields as reported in experiments and proposed in theoretical work. The responses of these neurons may provide the fundamental neural basis for the (bottom-up) representation of environmental layout and (top-down) memory-guided generation of visuospatial imagery and navigational planning.

涉及空间导航和记忆的几种类型的神经元编码代理与其环境中的物品之间的距离和方向（即矢量）。这种矢量信息通过表示自我与外部世界之间的几何关系，为空间认知提供了强大的基础。在这里，我们审查了海马结构中和周围远离感觉外围的神经元对矢量信息的显式编码。海马旁，脾后和顶叶皮层以及海马的形成和纹状体在单个神经元水平上提供了大量的载体编码实例。我们提供了具有矢量接受域的细胞的功能分类法，如实验中报道的和理论工作中所建议的。