Efficient episode encoding for spatial navigation

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae, and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand, or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. A method for familiarity mediated encoding of episodic memories for their inferential use in spatial navigation task is proposed. The method is strongly inspired by the state-of-the-art understanding of the hippocampal functioning and especially its role in novelty detection and episodic memory formation in relation to spatial context. The model is constructed on the presumption that episodic memory formation has behavioral, as well as sensory and perceptual correlates. In addition, the findings regarding hippocampal involvement in the novelty/familiarity detection and episodic memory formation, together with the existence of a straightforward parallel between internal hippocampal and abstract spatial representations are incorporated in the model. A navigation task is used to provide an experimental setup for behavioral testing with a rat-like agent. For this purpose, a framework that connects robot navigation and episodic memory representation is suggested. The computations are adapted for a real-time application. Simulation results show encoding of episodes and their use for navigation.