The Journal of Neuroscience, September 29, 2010 30(39):1289712901 12897

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive

Medial Parietal Cortex Encodes Perceived Heading Direction

in Humans
Oliver Baumann and Jason B. Mattingley
Queensland Brain Institute and School of Psychology, University of Queensland, St. Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia

The ability to encode and update representations of heading direction is crucial for successful navigation. In rats, head-direction cells
located within the limbic system alter their firing rate in accordance with the animals current heading. To date, however, the neural
structures that underlie an allocentric or viewpoint-independent sense of direction in humans remain unknown. Here we used functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural adaptation to distinctive landmarks associated with one of four heading direc-
tions in a virtual environment. Our experiment consisted of two phases: a learning phase, in which participants actively navigated the
virtual maze; and a test phase, in which participants viewed pairs of images from the maze while undergoing fMRI. We found that
activity within the medial parietal cortexspecifically, Brodmann area 31was modulated by learned heading, suggesting that this
region contains neural populations involved in the encoding and retrieval of allocentric heading information in humans. These results are
consistent with clinical case reports of patients with acquired lesions of medial posterior brain regions, who exhibit deficits in forming
and recalling links between landmarks and directional information. Our findings also help to explain why navigation disturbances are
commonly observed in patients with Alzheimers disease, whose pathology typically includes the cortical region we have identified as
being crucial for maintaining representations of heading direction.

Introduction 1998; Burgess, 2006). Spiers and Maguire (2007) investigated

As humans navigate, they acquire knowledge about the layout of how humans encode egocentric direction and distance from a
their environment. This information is encoded and stored in single target location during an active navigation task within a
memory, allowing individuals to find their way back to a desired virtual environment. They found that activity in the medial pre-
location. Navigation is thought to rely on the coordinated activity frontal cortex was modulated by distance from the target and that
of several distinct neuronal populations. Specialized head- activity in the posterior parietal cortex was positively correlated
direction cells within the limbic system discharge as a function of with egocentric direction with respect to the location of the goal.
the animals current heading in the horizontal plane, indepen- To date, however, no study in humans has obtained direct evi-
dent of its location within the environment (Taube, 2007). These dence for a neural representation of allocentric heading.
cells complement other neurons thought to underlie navigational In humans, the retrosplenial complex (RSC) and precu-
behavior: place cells in the hippocampus (OKeefe, 1976), neus are likely to play an important role in perceived heading.
which encode the animals absolute location, and grid cells in Acquired lesions of these posterior medial brain regions can
the entorhinal cortex (Hafting et al., 2005), which discharge at cause severe impairments in forming and recalling links be-
multiple locations within an environment, in which these loca- tween landmark identity and directional information (Takahashi
tions form a regular repeating pattern. Previous human studies et al., 1997), a condition referred to as heading disorientation
have found evidence for place-like and grid-like representations (Aguirre and DEsposito, 1999). Although suggestive, however, such
(Ekstrom et al., 2003; Hassabis et al., 2009; Doeller et al., 2010), clinical case reports typically involve patients with large and often
but to date no study has tested for representations relating exclu- poorly defined lesions and so do not permit precise localization of
sively to perceived heading. function.
Positional and directional spatial information can be encoded The goal of our study was to identify brain regions that under-
either egocentrically (i.e., relative to a persons location and ori- lie the representation of allocentric heading direction. We devel-
entation) or allocentrically (i.e., relative to other objects, inde- oped a virtual navigation task to identify neuronal populations
pendent of the location or orientation of the observer) (Klatzky, that change their activity pattern depending on perceived head-
ing. Our experiment consisted of two phases: a learning phase,
Received June 16, 2010; revised July 16, 2010; accepted July 27, 2010.
in which participants actively navigated the virtual maze; and a
This work was supported by an Australian Research Council and National Health and Medical Research Council test phase, in which participants viewed pairs of images from
Thinking Systems Grant. We gratefully acknowledge the Thinking Systems Team for their support and, in particular, the maze while undergoing high-field functional magnetic reso-
Jack Valmadre for programming the virtual environment used in this study. nance imaging (fMRI). We used fMRI adaptation (Krekelberg et
Correspondence should be addressed to Oliver Baumann, Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queens-
land, St. Lucia, Queensland, 4072, Australia. E-mail: o.baumann@uq.edu.au.
al., 2006) (see Materials and Methods) to determine whether a
DOI:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3077-10.2010 distinct and localized neural representation is selective for heading
Copyright 2010 the authors 0270-6474/10/3012897-05$15.00/0 direction in humans. Activity within any such region should be sig-
12898 J. Neurosci., September 29, 2010 30(39):1289712901 Baumann and Mattingley Neural Correlates of Perceived Heading

nificantly attenuated for trials in which pairs

of images represent the same heading direc-
tion (e.g., northnorth) relative to trials in
which pairs of images represent different
headings (e.g., westnorth).

Materials and Methods

Participants. Eighteen healthy, adult volunteers
gave their informed consent to participate in
the study, which was approved by the Human
Research Ethics Committee of the University
of Queensland. Data from five participants
were excluded from the analysis because their
behavioral performance during the test phase
was below our a priori criterion of 90% correct
responses (as outlined below). The remaining
13 participants (six females) ranged from 18 to
39 years of age (mean, 26 years); all were
right-handed.
Behavioral training and fMRI study. To test
for neural responses associated with perceived
heading, we developed a navigation task in
which participants first familiarized them-
selves with the layout of a virtual maze (the
learning phase). They then viewed pairs of
landmarks representing either the same head-
ing direction (e.g., northnorth) or different
heading directions (e.g., westnorth). Our aim
was to identify neuronal populations that Figure 1. Schematics of the virtual environment and spatial judgment task used to examine the representation of allocentric
change their activity pattern depending on per- heading. a, Aerial perspective of the virtual maze (never seen by participants) used in the learning phase. The red dots indicate the
ceived heading. To detect these differential ac- locations of the 20 symbols that acted as landmarks; the single blue spot represents the center of the virtual maze. The arrows
tivation patterns, we used fMRI adaptation, an represent the 16 different vantage points from which participants viewed the landmarks during the test phase. b, Example of a
approach that can reveal the functional prop- single image viewed by participants during the test phase. c, Sequence of events in a typical experimental trial, consisting of a pair
erties of subpopulations of neurons within an of images depicting landmarks representing the same heading direction (repeated trials) or different heading directions (novel
imaging voxel (Krekelberg et al., 2006). The trials). Note that participants never viewed the same landmark symbol twice within a trial pair.
technique relies on the observation that re-
sponses of neurons tuned to a given stimulus (the probe) are reduced form of a black symbol on a white background. The symbols were letters
when it is preceded by an identical or related stimulus (the prime) from the Tagalog and Greek alphabets, as well as astronomical signs. The
compared with conditions in which the probe and prime stimuli are maze environment was constructed so that participants were never able
unrelated (Grill-Spector et al., 2006). to see more than one landmark at a time as they moved along the corri-
Learning phase. In the learning phase of our study, participants com- dors (Fig. 1a). This ensured that the relationship between the positions of
pleted five, 1-h training sessions, which consisted of a series of search the landmarks had to be encoded entirely on the basis of an internal,
tasks that required them to navigate as directly and quickly as possible, allocentric representation of the layout of the virtual maze.
using a joystick held in their right hand, to various landmarks positioned Test phase. In the test phase, we used fMRI to measure neural responses as
at the periphery of a virtual maze (Fig. 1a). The maze was a Cartesian grid, participants viewed pairs of static, snapshot images of landmarks they had
made up of 10 corridors (five northsouth corridors and five east seen previously within the virtual maze during the learning phase (Fig. 1b).
west corridors). The two ends of each corridor contained a landmark They were instructed to press one of two buttons using their right thumb to
in the form of a distinct symbol. The positions of the landmarks (n indicate whether the position represented by the static image of the land-
20) within the maze were randomized across participants, to avoid mark was on the left or right of the center point of the maze (Fig. 1a, blue
any confounding effects that might arise as a consequence of partic- spot). Note that, although the purpose of the behavioral task was to prompt
ular groupings of symbols. participants to recall the spatial layout of the maze, the judgment they were
The participants task was to navigate as quickly and directly as possi- required to make was independent of heading direction.
ble to the location of one of the 20 landmarks, indicated by a small cue (an Each trial of the fMRI task consisted of a pair of landmark images,
image of the landmark) at the top of the computer screen. On every trial, comprising the initial adapter image for 2 s, followed by a blank screen
participants started from the center of the maze (Fig. 1a, blue spot) and for 1 s, and then a test image for 2 s (Fig. 1c). Crucially, each image pair
faced north. At the end of each trial, the efficiency of the path taken by involved either a novel heading (in which adapter and test images came
the participant was measured, in terms of both the time required to from the ends of corridors with different headings, e.g., westnorth) or a
navigate to the cued location and the distance traversed. This informa- repeated heading (in which adapter and test images came from the
tion was flashed to participants after each trial to motivate them to im- ends of corridors with the same heading, e.g., northnorth). To avoid any
prove their performance and thus to become more familiar with the neural adaptation to repetition of identical symbols, participants were
spatial layout of the virtual maze. In each of the five training sessions, never shown the same symbols in a repeated heading trial. Also, because
participants completed three to six blocks of 20 trials each. In every block participants were never required to make explicit judgments on whether
of trials, the participants had to navigate to each of the 20 symbols in successive symbols within a trial represented the same or a different heading,
random order. We used the Blender open-source three-dimensional we avoided any potential contribution from repetition of simple motor re-
content creation suite (The Blender Foundation) to create the virtual sponses. As an additional control, symbol pairs displayed in the novel and
maze and to administer the learning phase. Within the maze, each cor- repeated trials were matched with respect to their distance from the central
ridor had a (virtual) length of 30 m, a height of 3.5 m, and a width of reference point and from one another, to avoid any potential contribution
2.5 m. The wall at the end of each corridor contained a landmark in the from representations of learned place information.
Baumann and Mattingley Neural Correlates of Perceived Heading J. Neurosci., September 29, 2010 30(39):1289712901 12899

Before the fMRI experiment, participants completed 20 training trials

to familiarize themselves with the task. In the fMRI experiment, partici-
pants completed four scanning runs, for a total of 80 trials in each of the
repeated and novel conditions. The sequencing of the trials, and the
temporal jittering of rest periods, was optimized with optseq2 software
(http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/optseq/).
MRI acquisition and data analysis. Whole-brain echo-planar imaging
(EPI) was conducted using a 4 T Bruker MedSpec MRI scanner (Bruker
Biosciences) with a transverse electromagnetic head coil. For the EPI, 37
axial slices were acquired in an interleaved order, using a gradient echo
echo-planar T2*-sensitive sequence (repetition time, 2200 ms; echo
time, 30 ms; flip angle, 90; matrix, 64 64; field of view, 192 192 mm;
voxel size, 3 3 3 mm. In addition to the EPI, we also acquired a field
map (same resolution/slices as the EPI; repetition time, 900 ms; echo
time 1, 5.4 ms; echo time 2, 10.8 ms) and a T1-weighted structural 1 mm
cubic inversion recovery-prepared fast low-angle shot sequence three-
Figure 2. Mean values, expressed as a percentage of optimal efficiency, for spatial and
dimensional scan. A liquid crystal display projector (1024 768 resolu-
temporal behavioral measures (1 SE) across the five learning sessions.
tion) backprojected the visual stimuli onto a screen positioned at the end
of the scanner bed. Participants lay on their backs within the bore of the
magnet and viewed the stimuli comfortably via a 45 angled mirror that
reflected the images displayed on the screen. The distance to the screen virtual maze, a crucial prerequisite for our goal of identifying
was 265 cm (15 cm from eyes to mirror), and the visible part of the screen the neural substrates of perceived heading in the test phase of the
encompassed 21 11 of visual angle (98 50 cm). To minimize study. The behavioral results for all five learning sessions are
head movement, all participants were stabilized with tightly packed foam displayed in Figure 2.
padding surrounding the head.
Image processing and statistical analysis of fMRI data were performed Test phase
using SPM5 (Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, Univer-
Statistical analyses of the behavioral data acquired during the test
sity College London, London, UK). Functional data volumes were slice-
time corrected, realigned to the first volume and unwarped using
phase revealed no difference between the time required by par-
individual field maps. A T2*-weighted mean image of the unsmoothed ticipants to respond in the repeated condition (mean SE,
images was coregistered with the corresponding anatomical T1-weighted 1031 66 ms) and the novel condition (mean SE, 1050 73
image from the same individual. The individual T1 image was used to ms; two-tailed paired t test, t(12) 0.88, p 0.39). Moreover,
derive the transformation parameters for the stereotaxic space using the there was no difference between accuracy measures for the two
SPM5 template [Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) template], conditions (repeated condition, mean SE, 99.03 0.32% vs
which was then applied to the individual coregistered EPI images. The novel condition, mean SE, 98.94 0.31%; two-tailed paired t
voxel sizes of the normalized images were 2 mm 3. Images were then test, t(12) 0.37, p 0.72). These findings confirm that the
smoothed with an 8 mm full-width half-maximum isotropic Gaussian novel and repeated trials of the behavioral task were well matched
kernel. At the single-participant level, we applied a high-pass filter (cut-
in terms of their level of difficulty.
off, 128 s) to remove baseline drifts. The adapter and test stimuli (novel
or repeated) were modeled separately as 2 s events convolved with a
For the fMRI analyses, statistical parametric maps of the t
hemodynamic response function, with predicted responses always cov- statistic were generated from linear contrasts for the condition of
ering the entire period. Our principal comparison involved the effect of novel repeated, separately for each participant. These contrasts
repeated headings relative to novel headings. For each participant, statis- of parameter estimates were then included in a second-level
tical parametric maps of the t statistic were generated from linear con- group analysis using single-sample t tests on the contrast images
trasts for the condition of novel repeated. These contrasts of parameter obtained from each participant. This resulted in whole-brain,
estimates were then included in a second-level group analysis using random effects (for the comparison of novel repeated and
single-sample t tests on the contrast images obtained from each partici- repeated novel). The results of the random-effects analysis of
pant. The time course of the average percentage blood oxygenation level- activity across the whole brain for the contrast (novel repeated)
dependent (BOLD) signal-change was extracted using MarsBaR
revealed a single, statistically significant activation cluster (one-
(http://marsbar.sourceforge.net/).
tailed paired t test, t(12) 10.05, p 0.027, familywise error
corrected for multiple comparisons on voxel-level, cluster size of
Results 4), within the precuneus of the left medial parietal lobe [Brod-
Learning phase mann area (BA) 31; MNI coordinates of the peak voxel: 14,
As participants learned the layout of the virtual maze across the 66, 20] (Fig. 3a c). This region exhibited a reduced BOLD
five training sessions, we recorded the spatial and temporal effi- response for trial pairs in which the two images represented the
ciency of the paths they took to reach the cued landmark. Spatial same heading direction (indicating neural adaptation) compared
efficiency was defined as the ratio of the minimum distance with trial pairs in which the images represented different head-
between the starting point and the target landmark, and the ac- ings (Fig. 3d). The contrast (repeated novel) did not yield any
tual length of the path taken by the participant. Temporal effi- significant activity.
ciency was defined as the ratio of the minimum amount of time To check for the existence for any subthreshold activation
necessary to travel between the starting point and the location of within the right medial parietal region (i.e., the area homologous
the target landmark, and the time actually taken by the partici- to the left hemisphere site within which we found a significant
pant to reach the target landmark. In the final training session, adaptation effect in the whole-brain analysis), we conducted a
participants obtained an average SE spatial efficiency of separate region of interest analysis using MarsBaR. The region of
99.15 0.28% and an average SE temporal efficiency of interest was defined as a sphere (5 mm radius) with its center
98.79 0.40%. These figures indicate that participants success- located at MNI coordinates of 14, 66, 20. A paired t test revealed
fully reached a ceiling of performance in learning the layout of the a marginally significant trend for an adaptation effect (i.e., a
12900 J. Neurosci., September 29, 2010 30(39):1289712901 Baumann and Mattingley Neural Correlates of Perceived Heading

greater response for novel versus repeated

conditions) within the right medial pari-
etal region (t(12) 2.01, p 0.068). To
check for the existence of any subthresh-
old activations associated with our ma-
nipulation of allocentric heading in other
brain areas, we conducted an additional
analysis of the fMRI data using a more
liberal, uncorrected threshold of p
0.001. This analysis revealed a small region
of increased activity in the novel versus re-
peated condition that was restricted to the
dorsal striatum bilaterally (MNI coordi-
nates of the peak voxel: 24, 12, 2 and 20, 0,
4). This region has been implicated previ-
ously in the retrieval of spatial information
during active navigation (Iaria et al., 2003;
Doeller et al., 2008; Baumann et al., 2010)
but to date has not been associated explicitly
with perceived heading.

Discussion
The goal of the present study was to identify
brain structures involved in representing al-
locentric heading direction within a learned
environment. We used fMRI to measure
neural adaptation to pairs of images repre-
senting distinctive landmarks from the ends
of corridors within a virtual maze. After an
initial learning phase conducted over several
days outside the scanner, participants
viewed pairs of landmark images from the Figure 3. Mean BOLD activity for the comparison of novel heading repeated heading. MR brain slices are from an MNI-
same heading (repeated trials) or from dif- normalized template brain and show heading-direction-selective activity in the left medial parietal cortex (a height threshold of
ferent headings (novel trials). We predicted T 5.18, p 0.001) was used for display purposes. a, Sagittal view. b, Coronal view. c, Axial view. d, Time course of the average
that brain areas that encode or maintain al- percentage BOLD signal change for the activation cluster shown in a c. The 0 point on the x-axis represents the onset of the first
locentric heading information should show image within a trial pair.
attenuated responses, consistent with repe-
tition suppression (Grill-Spector et al., 2006; Krekelberg et al., 2006), In previous fMRI studies, the RSC has been found to be
in repeated versus novel trials. strongly active during scene viewing, scene imagery, and scene
Analysis of the fMRI data revealed a single brain region lo- memory (Epstein and Kanwisher, 1998; Epstein et al., 2007). Ac-
cated in the medial parietal cortex (BA 31), in which activity was tivity in the RSC during active navigation in a virtual environ-
modulated by learned heading. The activation cluster was located ment has also been found to correlate with behavioral measures
within the so-called RSC, a region that has been functionally of map expertise (Wolbers and Buchel, 2005). More recently,
defined by Epstein (2008) on the basis of its activation during Doeller et al. (2010) used fMRI to reveal grid-like representations
navigational tasks and during passive viewing of navigationally in human entorhinal cortex. These investigators also observed
relevant stimuli. The RSC is close to, but distinct from, the ana- activity in medial parietal areas associated with heading direction,
tomically defined retrosplenial cortex (encompassing only BA 29 but their task and display configurations did not permit disam-
and BA 30) (Vann et al., 2009) and extends superiorly into the biguation of activity related to allocentric heading per se, from
posterior cingulate and posteriorly into the parietal occipital activity evoked by visually identical landmarks associated with
sulcus/anterior calcarine region (Brodmann areas 23 and 31). We common headings within the virtual environment. In our task,
also observed a small cluster of reduced activity for repeated ver- participants were never shown the same landmark in repeated (or
sus novel trials in the bilateral dorsal striatum, but this response novel) trials, thus ensuring that the adaptation effect we observed
was well below the threshold for significance and is thus not for allocentric heading within RSC cannot be attributed to visual
considered further here. Although the activation we observed repetition of identical landmarks across experimental conditions.
within the RSC clearly indicates that this cortical region is in- The human ability to perceive and encode allocentric heading
volved in representing allocentric heading, the underlying mech- is consistent with the existence of so-called head-direction cells in
anism of the suppression effect is yet to be determined. One the rodent limbic system (Taube, 2007). Head-direction cells al-
possibility is that, in novel (i.e., different heading) trials, two ter their rate of firing in accordance with the animals directional
distinct representations of allocentric orientation must be re- heading, so that, for example, a particular neuron might dis-
trieved. In contrast, in repeated (i.e., same heading) trials, it is not charge whenever the animal points its head north, independent
necessary to retrieve orientation information for the second stim- of its location in the environment. It remains unknown whether
ulus of the image pair, because this representation would already rodent parietal cortex contains neural populations sensitive to
be active within relevant RSC neurons. perceived heading or whether the rodent head-direction system
Baumann and Mattingley Neural Correlates of Perceived Heading J. Neurosci., September 29, 2010 30(39):1289712901 12901

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