Spatial Memory and Spatial Orientation

Navigating through a remembered space depends critically on the ability to stay oriented with respect to the remembered environment and to reorient after becoming lost. This chapter describes the roles of long-term spatial memory, sensorimotor spatial memory, and path integration in determining spatial orientation. Experiments presented here highlight the reference direction structure of long-term spatial memory and suggest that self-position and orientation during locomotion are updated with respect to those reference directions. These results indicate that a complete account of spatial orientation requires a more thorough understanding of the interaction between long-term spatial memory, sensorimotor spatial memory, and path integration.