Think local, act global: How do fragmented representations of space allow seamless navigation?

Citation

Dudchenko PA, Wood ER & Grieves RM (2013) Think local, act global: How do fragmented representations of space allow seamless navigation?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36 (5), pp. 548-549. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0140525x13000368

Abstract
In this commentary, we highlight a difficulty for metric navigation arising from recent data with grid and place cells: the integration of piecemeal representations of space in environments with repeated boundaries. Put simply, it is unclear how place and grid cells might provide a global representation of distance when their fields appear to represent repeated boundaries within an environment. One implication of this is that the capacity for spatial inferences may be limited.

Keywords
Physiology; Behavioral Neuroscience; Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology

Journal
Behavioral and Brain Sciences: Volume 36, Issue 5