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BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The claustrum of the mammalian brain is an anatomically-substantial but largely unexplored and uninvestigated structure. The claustrum has been the subject of a limited degree of speculation regarding its potential functions, however, its physiological role still remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the spatial and temporal properties of neurons located in the anterior claustrum in freely-moving rats. METHODS: Extracellular recordings were performed using 32- channel drivable microelectrode arrays. The spiking activity of neurons was simultaneously coupled with the animal’s position in the environment and direction of the head in horizontal plane. Recordings were performed in different environmental conditions including presentation of objects. RESULTS: Our data suggest, unexpectedly, the presence of cells in anterior claustrum that are responsive to the position in space of the animal, to boundaries enclosing the environment and finally to the presence of objects in the environment. CONCLUSIONS: This novel claustral signal potentially directly modulates a wide variety of anterior cortical regions. We hypothesise that a key function of the claustrum is to provide dynamic information about body position, boundaries, landmark information and content of the environment, enabling dynamic control of behaviour.