ArticleCurrent biology : CB2018
Compromised Grid-Cell-like Representations in Old Age as a Key Mechanism to Explain Age-Related Navigational Deficits.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 70 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
70 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 147 citations in OpenAlex.
- Egocentric and Allocentric Spatial Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment with Real-World and Virtual Navigation Tasks: A Systematic Review.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2021Pooled it
- Impaired spatial coding and neuronal hyperactivity in the medial entorhinal cortex of aged APP knock-in mice.Cell reports · 2026Article
- Grid maps are disrupted after large-scale arena expansion and recover with experience.Nature communications · 2026Article
- VR-based path integration predicts individual risk of rapid cortical decline: a one-year longitudinal study in cognitively unimpaired adults.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2026Article
- Analysis of Spatiotemporal Features in a Virtual Navigation Game Across Different Age Groups: Quantitative Research.JMIR serious games · 2026Article
- Cortisol treatment impairs path integration and alters grid-like representations in the male human entorhinal cortex.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Aberrant medial entorhinal cortex dynamics link tau pathology to spatial memory impairment.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Interferences between time and space in advanced age.Memory & cognition · 2026Article
- Graded encoding of spatial novelty scales in the human brain.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Continuous updating via self-motion compensates for weak allocentric spatial memory in aging.Psychology and aging · 2025Article
- Article
- Entorhinal grid-like codes for visual space during memory formation.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Spatial coding dysfunction and network instability in the aging medial entorhinal cortex.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Thinking as Analogy-Making: Toward a Neural Process Account of General Intelligence.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2025Review
- A cognitive-motor framework for spatial navigation in aging and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025Review
- Virtual reality navigation for the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025Article
- Perceptual learning and neural correlates of virtual navigation in subjective cognitive decline: A pilot study.iScience · 2024Article
- APOE ɛ4 and Insulin Resistance Influence Path-Integration-Based Navigation through Distinct Large-Scale Network Mechanisms.Aging and disease · 2024Article
- Noninvasive modulation of the hippocampal-entorhinal complex during spatial navigation in humans.Science advances · 2024Article
- Article
10 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
A progressive loss of navigational abilities in old age has been observed in numerous studies, but we have only limited understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this decline [1]. A central component of the brain's navigation circuit are grid cells in entorhinal cortex [2], largely thought to support intrinsic self-motion-related computations, such as path integration (i.e., keeping track of one's position by integrating self-motion cues) [3-6]. Given that entorhinal cortex is particularly vulnerable to neurodegenerative processes during aging and Alzheimer's disease [7-14], deficits in grid cell function could be a key mechanism to explain age-related navigational decline. To test this hypothesis, we conducted two experiments in healthy young and older adults. First, in an fMRI experiment, we found significantly reduced grid-cell-like representations in entorhinal cortex of older adults. Second, in a behavioral path integration experiment, older adults showed deficits in computations of self-position during path integration based on body-based or visual self-motion cues. Most strikingly, we found that these path integration deficits in older adults could be explained by their individual magnitudes of grid-cell-like representations, as reduced grid-cell-like representations were associated with larger path integration errors. Together, these results show that grid-cell-like representations in entorhinal cortex are compromised in healthy aging. Furthermore, the association between grid-cell-like representations and path integration performance in old age supports the notion that grid cells underlie path integration processes. We therefore conclude that impaired grid cell function may play a key role in age-related decline of specific higher-order cognitive functions, such as spatial navigation.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.