Neural Correlates of Spatial Navigation in Primate Hippocampus

The hippocampus has been extensively implicated in spatial navigation in rodents and more recently in bats.Numerous studies have revealed that various kinds of spatial information are encoded across hippocampal regions.In contrast,investigations of spatial behavioral correlates in the primate hippocampus are scarce and have been mostly limited to head-restrained subjects during virtual navigation.However,recent advances made in freely-moving primates suggest marked differences in spatial representations from rodents,albeit some similarities.Here,we review empirical studies examining the neural correlates of spatial navigation in the primate(including human)hippocampus at the levels of local field potentials and single units.The lower frequency theta oscillations are often intermittent.Single neuron responses are highly mixed and task-dependent.We also discuss neuronal selectivity in the eye and head coordinates.Finally,we propose that future studies should focus on investigating both intrinsic and extrinsic population activity and examining spatial coding properties in large-scale hippocampal-neocortical networks across tasks.

Towards designing telepresence robot navigation for people with disabilities

Purpose–The authors believe that people with cognitive and motor impairments may benefit from using of telepresence robots to engage in social activities.To date,these systems have not been designed for use by people with disabilities as the robot operators.The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach–The authors conducted two formative evaluations using a participatory action design process.First,the authors conducted a focus group(n¼5)to investigate how members of the target audience would want to direct a telepresence robot in a remote environment using speech.The authors then conducted a follow-on experiment in which participants(n¼12)used a telepresence robot or directed a human in a scavenger hunt task.Findings–The authors collected a corpus of 312 utterances(first hand as opposed to speculative)relating to spatial navigation.Overall,the analysis of the corpus supported several speculations put forth during the focus group.Further,it showed few statistically significant differences between speech used in the human and robot agent conditions;thus,the authors believe that,for the task of directing a telepresence robot’s movements in a remote environment,people will speak to the robot in a manner similar to speaking to another person.Practical implications–Based upon the two formative evaluations,the authors present four guidelines for designing speech-based interfaces for telepresence robots.Originality/value–Robot systems designed for general use do not typically consider people with disabilities.The work is a first step towards having our target population take the active role of the telepresence robot operator.