Как это понимать? Если убрать у крысы способность видеть, слышать, осязать, нюхать, "вестибулировать" - эти нейроны все-равно будут работать как описано?
Думаю, для ответа на этот вопрос лучше будет обратиться к оригинальному тексту исследования, благо необходимая ссылка приведена в конце статьи.
Цитата:
This preliminary paper will concentrate on the response properties of 8 of the
76 units obtained in 36 electrode penetrations through the dorsal hippocampus (fields
CA1 and 4) and the dentate gyrus in 23 rats. Of the remaining 68 units, 14 were classified as 'arousal' or 'attentional' units and resemble those reported by Vinogradova
et al.7; 21 'movement' units had patterns of activity directly~related, to the animal's
behaviour, firing briskly during some but not necessarily all of the following behaviours: orienting, sniffing, bar-pressing, and walking, and firing infrequently or not at
all, during eating, drinking, grooming, quiet sitting, and slow wave sleep*; two units
had interesting properties relating to the animal's expectations; and for the remaining
31, either no adequate stimulus or behaviour could be found or their responses were
inconsistent and uninterpretable. This last group includes 15 units which, apart from
an occasional spike in conjunction with a burst of spikes in several smaller units,
remained silent in spite of considerable, and sometimes drastic, attempts to fire them.
It is the response properties of the last class of units which has led us to postulate
that the rat hippocampus functions as a spatial map. These 8 units responded solely or
maximally when the rat was situated in a particular part of the testing platform facing
in aparticular direction. Five of them were in all other respects identical to the 15 silent
units discussed above: they did not fire unless the animal was in a moderate state of
arousal, was situated in the correct part of the testing platform, and for 4 of the 5, was
receiving, in addition, the appropriate sensory stimulus. The other three units had a
spontaneous firing rate which was maximal in a particular part of the testing stand.
These 8 units then appear to have preferred spatial orientations.
Разумеется, сенсорные стимулы необходимы для активации этих нейронов, но она происходит лишь тогда, когда подопытное животное находится в определённом месте пространства и/или ориентировано определённым образом.