THE ASSOCIATIVE PARIETAL CORTEX AND SPATIAL PROCESSING IN RODENTS

It is widely acknowledged that the hippocampal formation has a central function in rodents' spatial memory and navigation. However, recent w ork has shown that other structures participate in specific spatial pr ocessing. That is so for the associative parietal cortex (APC). Althou gh this neocortical region is far less developed in rodents than in hu mans and non-human primates, APC damage in rodents induces deficits wh ich affect both egocentrically and allocentrically organized spatial b ehaviours. On the basis of behavioural (following parietal lesions) an d neuroanatomical data, we propose that the APC could be at the, inter face between the level of perception of the physical world (egocentric ally organized) and that of representations or maps (allocentrically o rganized) of this world. Reciprocally, the AFC could also be involved in the transformation in the opposite direction, of computations made on the basis of representations into motor actions necessary for the e fficient execution of oriented behaviours within the physical world. ( (C) Academie des sciences/Elsevier, Paris.)