1. 제목: The Origins of Spatial Cognition in Evolution, Development, and the Brain

2. 연사: 이상아 교수 (KAIST 바이오및뇌공학과)

3. 일시: 2017.11.15 16:30~17:45

4. 장소 : 양분순 빌딩 207호

5. 초록

Spatial cognition provides a unique window into the evolutionary and developmental origins of complex behaviors and memory, due to its richness in representation and computation, its neural specificity, and its transformation across human development. In this talk, I will share some evidence from my lab that the cognitive mechanisms underlying navigation are shared widely across the phylogenetic tree. I will focus on the role of environmental boundaries in spatial mapping and demonstrate that in humans, these core representations dominate spatial behavior early in development. I will then bring together insights gathered from various neuroscientific approaches and methodologies to argue that these common patterns of behaviors are based on common hippocampal representations of the environment such as the surrounding 3D terrain. Finally, I will discuss an example of a neurodevelopmental disorder that results in specific impairment of spatial representation and memory - Williams Syndrome. From the firing of single neurons in the hippocampus to a child's developing understanding of abstract space, I will end by proposing that our evolutionarily ancient neural representation of space is fundamental for high-level human cognition, episodic memory, and spatial intelligence.