Spatial processing in the brain: The activity of hippocampal place cells

The startling discovery by O'Keefe & Dostrovsky (Brain Res. 1971; 34: 171-7 5) that hippocampal neurons fire selectively in different regions or "place fields" of an environment and the subsequent development of the comprehens ive theory by O'Keefe & Nadel (The Hippocampus as a Cognitive Map. Oxford, UK: Clarendon, 1978) that the hippocampus serves as a cognitive map have st imulated a substantial body of literature on the characteristics of hippoca mpal "place cells" and their relevance for our understanding of the mechani sms by which the brain processes spatial information. This paper reviews th e major dimensions of the empirical research on place-cell activity and the development of computational models to explain various characteristics of place fields.