A computational neuromotor model of the role of basal ganglia and hippocampus in spatial navigation

A computational model of the Basal Ganglia and the Hippocampus as key players in solving a navigation task is presented. The roles played by the above-mentioned neural substrates in navigation are demonstrated by an exploration task performed by a model rat in a simulated Morris Water Maze. To highlight the role of hippocampus in navigation, the agent is made to adopt a context-based navigation strategy. To demonstrate the role of BG in navigation, the agent is made to adopt a visual cue-based navigation strategy. The models are developed based on "actor-critic" architecture and trained using reinforcement learning. The above two models are integrated into a complete model which incorporates the above two forms of navigation. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.