US-German Research Proposal: Neural Dynamics of the Integration of Egocentric and Allocentric Cues in the Formation of Spatial Maps During Fully-Mobile Human Navigation

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

How do we learn our way around a new city, building, or other environment? Spatial learning occurs as we integrate the visual, auditory, and other sensory impressions we gather as we move through the new environment. This collaborative project will investigate the brain dynamics of human participants as they actively navigate new types of laboratory mazes. The goal is to observe and model, for the first time, the distributed brain dynamics that support spatial learning during active human navigation. To do this, the investigators will use an original, non-invasive "mobile brain/body imaging" (MoBI) data recording approach that combines simultaneous full body motion capture and brain electrical (EEG or "brainwave") recording. Advanced signal processing methods will allow them to use non-invasively recorded scalp EEG data to follow the time courses of electrical brain activity within the cerebral cortex as
subjects actively explore computer-defined mazes. Beyond introducing new methods and software to the field of cognitive neuroscience, the project could enable improved design of living and work environments, development of new and effective approaches to improving spatial navigation abilities of children and people with spatial disabilities, guide better training for and evaluation of first responder operations, enable more effective operation of remote observation vehicles, and spur development of methods to maintain spatial orienting abilities in the elderly. The project will have three technical objectives: 1) To further develop and exploit a new computational approach to studying brain source network dynamics of freely moving individuals, 2) to observe and model transient cortical network interactions supporting physical navigation in 3-D space, and 3) to examine to what extent sensory information about the spatial structure of the physical environment is processed in brain networks that support modality-specific vs. supra-modal information processing. To accomplish these objectives, the project will capitalize on unique strengths of the collaborators and the unique facilities available in the investigators' pioneering MoBI laboratories. The project will use a novel "Sparse-AR" (perceptually sparse augmented-reality) approach in which information about the participant's spatial environment is delivered in the form of brief bursts of sound or light. The Sparse-AR approach will allow modeling of how our brain activities change as we receive and integrate new bits of evidence about unfamiliar or familiar features of the spatial environment. A companion project is being funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Germany (BMBF).