Partial coherence and frustration in self-organizing spherical grids

Abstract

Nearby grid cells have been observed to express a remarkable degree of long-range order, which is often idealized as extending potentially to infinity. Yet their strict periodic firing and ensemble coherence are theoretically possible only in flat environments, much unlike the burrows which rodents usually live in. Are the symmetrical, coherent grid maps inferred in the lab relevant to chart their way in their natural habitat? We consider spheres as simple models of curved environments and, waiting for the appropriate experiments to be performed, we use our adaptation model to predict what grid maps would emerge in a network with the same recurrent connections, which on the plane produce coherence among the units. We find that on the sphere such connections distort the maps that single grid units would express on their own, and aggregate them into clusters. When remapping to a different spherical environment, units in each cluster maintain only partial coherence, similar to what is observed in disordered materials, such as spin glasses.