51. Hugo Spiers: Taxi Brains, cognitive maps in humans, and working with humans and non-human animals

BJKS Podcast

Hugo Spiers is professor of cognitive neuroscience at University College London. His research explores how our brain constructs representations of the world and uses them to recall the past, navigate the present and imagine the future. In this episode, we talk about his work on Sea Hero Quest (with Michael Hornberger, former guest of this podcast), his new research project Taxi Brains, the difficulties and joys of working with more than one species, and cognitive maps in humans.
Time stamps
0:00:05: Dealing with email
0:04:42: Sea Hero Quest
0:25:53: Taxi Brains project
0:55:18: The difficulties and benefits of working with humans and non-human animals in the same lab
1:11:48: Discussing Hugo's review "The cognitive map in humans: spatial navigation and beyond"
Podcast links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-pod
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-pod-twt

Hugo's links

• Website: https://geni.us/spiers-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/spiers-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/spiers-twt

Ben's links

• Website: https://geni.us/bjks-web
• Google Scholar: https://geni.us/bjks-scholar
• Twitter: https://geni.us/bjks-twt

Episodes mentioned during our conversation:
Michael Hornberger: https://geni.us/bjks-hornberger
Kate Jeffery: https://geni.us/bjks-jeffery
References
Bellmund, Gärdenfors, Moser, & Doeller (2018). Navigating cognition: Spatial codes for human thinking. Science.
Constantinescu, O’Reilly, & Behrens (2016). Organizing conceptual knowledge in humans with a gridlike code. Science.
Doeller, Barry, & Burgess (2010). Evidence for grid cells in a human memory network. Nature.
Epstein, Patai, Julian, & Spiers (2017). The cognitive map in humans: spatial navigation and beyond. Nature neuroscience.
Gardenfors (2004). Conceptual spaces: The geometry of thought. MIT press.
Gardner, Hermansen, Pachitariu, Burak, Baas, Dunn, ... & Moser (2022). Toroidal topology of population activity in grid cells. Nature.
Griesbauer, Manley, Wiener, & Spiers (2022). London taxi drivers: A review of neurocognitive studies and an exploration of how they build their cognitive map of London. Hippocampus.
Jacobs, Weidemann, ... & Kahana (2013). Direct recordings of grid-like neuronal activity in human spatial navigation. Nature neuroscience.
Lever, ... & Burgess (2009). Boundary vector cells in the subiculum of the hippocampal formation. Journal of Neuroscience.
Maguire, ... & Frith (2000). Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Newport (2021). A World Without Email: Find Focus and Transform the Way You Work Forever. Penguin UK.
O'keefe, & Nadel (1978). The hippocampus as a cognitive map. Oxford university press.
Solomon, Lega, Sperling, & Kahana (2019). Hippocampal theta codes for distances in semantic and temporal spaces. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Solstad, Boccara, Kropff, Moser, & Moser. (2008). Representation of geometric borders in the entorhinal cortex. Science.
Spiers (2020). The hippocampal cognitive map: one space or many? Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Tolman (1948). Cognitive maps in rats and men. Psychological review.

Chapters

1. 51. Hugo Spiers: Taxi Brains, cognitive maps in humans, and working with humans and non-human animals (00:00:00)

2. Dealing with email (00:00:04)

3. Sea Hero Quest (00:04:42)

4. Taxi Brains project (00:25:53)

5. The difficulties and benefits of working with humans and non-human animals in the same lab (00:55:18)

6. Discussing Hugo's review paper "The cognitive map in humans: spatial navigation and beyond" (01:11:48)