between the peaks of their place fields (Fig. 5a–d). As a result of this relationship, the travel distances between landmarks during navigation are expressed in the temporal domain by a time-compressed format in the theta waves75,82. Third, the oscillation frequency of the waxing-waning spike activity of place cells is faster than the frequency of the ‘background’ population, which is also reflected by the local field potential theta rhythm. This brings about a frequency interference pattern, known as phase precession83 (Fig. 5b), which is due, at least partially, to the millisecond time delays between adjacent place cells82,84. These temporal mechanisms determine the size of the place field (that is, its ‘lifetime’) and the slope of phase precession82,84. Similar temporal rules may govern the phase precession and the size of the grid in the entorhinal cortex85.
