Biological Learning and Control: Shadmehr and Mussa-ivaldi 1. Space in the Mammalian Brain

1.1 Where am I? You wake up one morning in a hotel room. You have just arrived in Cozumel, Mexico for a short vacation. But right now, coming out of a dream, you do not quite remember this fact. The room is dark, there is only a dim light coming from the shutter on the right side somewhere at a distance. You do not know where you are. Or why you are there. It cannot be your home. Or is it? The bathroom would be right on the left of the door. But where is the door? This is a transient disorientation that many have occasionally experienced. Puzzling and disturbing. But it does not last long. Our normal mode of being includes a persistent awareness of where we are in space and this awareness seems to be tightly connected with our ability to remember facts. For example, to remember that we are on vacation in Cozumel.