# CRCNS: Neural circuits for egocentric and allocentric cognitive maps in humans

> **NIH NIH R01** · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $169,300

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY (See instructions):
Cognitive maps allow humans to mentally represent their spatial environments and are thus essential for
navigation and memory in everyday life. Humans use different types of cognitive maps to guide their 
behavior: egocentric cognitive maps, in which spatial information such as locations and directions is 
encoded relative to the subject, and allocentric cognitive maps, in which spatial information is encoded 
relative to the external world.
This project will use computational modeling and human single-neuron recordings in epilepsy 
patients during a virtual-reality task to demonstrate the neural circuits that underlie egocentric and 
allocentric cognitive maps in humans (Aim 1), guided by extensive research on spatial cells in animals. 
Combining predictions from our computational models of navigation and memory with our prior discovery of 
egocentric cells in the human medial temporal lobe, we will test for neurons that are egocentrically tuned to 
boundaries, objects, and reference points and thus underlie egocentric cognitive maps. Going beyond our 
description of human grid and place cells, we will also identify neurons that are allocentrically tuned to 
boundaries, objects, and locations as the neural basis of allocentric cognitive maps. In tight feedback loops, 
we will extend our computational models to integrate the empirical observations. Beyond navigation, we will 
analyze and simulate how egocentric and allocentric spatial cells reactivate when humans use 
cognitive maps to recall spatial memories (Aim 2). To show how cognitive maps become populated with 
non-spatial information to generate complex memories, we will identify how spatial cells become linked 
to neurons that represent non-spatial features to encode object location memories (Aim 3). We will 
test empirically and investigate computationally whether sharp wave ripples play a role in the encoding and 
retrieval of such complex memories by triggering synchronous activity in spatial and non-spatial cells. 
Applying confined and diffuse neuron loss to our models, we will mimic memory disorders and examine 
their effects on behavior.
Overall, this project will lead to new insights into the cellular mechanisms of spatial navigation and memory, 
helping us to identify the working principles of the human brain. Our discoveries will be instrumental in 
understanding the cognitive effects of mental illnesses, and they will provide the ground for developing
treatment options of memory disorders such as electrical brain stimulation to restore cognitive functioning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11082769
- **Project number:** 1R01MH139348-01
- **Recipient organization:** COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Joshua Jacobs
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $169,300
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-01 → 2027-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11082769

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11082769, CRCNS: Neural circuits for egocentric and allocentric cognitive maps in humans (1R01MH139348-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11082769. Licensed CC0.

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