Fixed Reference Directions Model of Spatial Memory and Navigation
Weimin Mou
University of Alberta

The early theories of spatial memory and navigation stipulated that animals, including humans, have an enduring cognitive map of objects in the environment and during locomotion update the representation of their location and orientation in the cognitive map (e.g., Gallistel, 1990; O'Keefe & Nadel, 1978; Tolman, 1948). However these theories have been challenged recently by the proposal that human spatial navigation primarily relies on egocentric representations that are dynamic updated during navigation. In this talk, I will discuss one allocentric model of spatial memory and navigation and how to use this model to revisit the evidences supporting the proposal of dynamic updating egocentric representations. I will also describe evidences that support the allocentric model but not the egocentric updating model.