边界促进空间导航的认知神经机制

p>Boundaries are obstacles with extended surfaces in the spatial environment and contribute significantly to the spatial navigation for humans and animals. Cognitive developmental studies found that children could reorient successfully by using the geometry of the boundary when they were disoriented at the age of 1.5~2 years old, and gradually using the vertical information until they were 3.1~4.7 years old, length information until the age of 4~5, and visual opaqueness information until the age of 5 years old in navigation. In addition, neuroimaging studies in adults have found that the medial temporal lobe and parietal lobe play different roles in boundary processing. Specifically, the boundary geometry and constituent elements were represented in the parahippocampal place area and the retrosplenial complex. Furthermore, the navigational affordance for a boundary was represented in the occipital parietal area. Finally, encoding and retrieval of the boundary-based object&rsquo;s location were associated with the hippocampus. Several issues are unaddressed that should be investigated in future. First, future studies should explore the comprehensive cognitive processes of boundary-based navigation and its development trajectory. Second, further research could explore the functional interaction between the medial temporal lobe and posterior parietal cortex. Third, we could pay attention to the distinctions and associations between the cognitive neural mechanisms of the boundary and geometry center encoding. Forth, further study could investigate specific behavioral impairment of boundary-based navigation in individuals with at-genetic-risk Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease. Finally, we could about the boundary influence mechanisms in long-term memory, time estimation, visual space, and social networks.</p