Data from: Non-rhythmic head-direction cells in the parahippocampal region are not constrained by attractor network dynamics

Computational models postulate that HD cells are part of an attractor
network integrating angular head turns. This network requires inputs from
visual landmarks to anchor the HD signal to the external world. We
investigated whether information about HD and visual landmarks is
integrated in the medial entorhinal cortex and parasubiculum, resulting in
neurons expressing a conjunctive code for HD and visual landmarks. We
found that parahippocampal HD cells could be divided into two classes
based on their theta-rhythmic activity: non-rhythmic and theta-rhythmic HD
cells. Manipulations of the visual landmarks caused tuning curve
alterations in most HD cells, with the largest visually driven changes
observed in non-rhythmic HD cells. Importantly, the tuning modifications
of non-rhythmic HD cells were often non-coherent across cells, refuting
the notion that attractor-like dynamics control non-rhythmic HD cells.
These findings reveal a new population of non-rhythmic HD cells whose
malleable organization is controlled by visual landmarks.