The Human Subiculum and Its Role in Spatiotemporal Memory and Mental Imagery.

Traditionally viewed as a mere relay station of the hippocampal formation, the subiculum is emerging as a computational hub of the medial temporal lobe, essential for multiplexed neural representations guiding behavior. While foundational animal research has revealed that its sophisticated cytoarchitecture allows for conjunctive coding of spatiotemporal information, our understanding of how such neural properties translate to human cognitive function remains incomplete. The evolutionary expansion of its anterior region and the enhancement of its anatomical complexity and widespread neocortical connectivity imply that the function of the human subiculum may extend beyond the spatial domain. In this review, we examine how the subiculum may serve as a scaffold for goal-directed spatiotemporal computations in humans and speculate on its role in supporting abstract cognitive functions such as mental imagery and episodic simulation.