The hippocampal region plays a critical role in declarative memory. In addition, there have been significant advances in characterizing several defining features of declarative memory, and in identifying the cortical and hippocampal structures essential to this form of memory. Yet, we have little insight into the nature of the neural coding that underlies declarative representations by the hippocampus or cortex, or into the nature of the essential cortical-hippocampal interactions. The long- term objective of this project is to clarify the hippocampal """"""""memory code"""""""" by analyzing firing patterns of single neurons and neuronal ensembles of cortical and hippocampal areas in rats performing different memory tasks, and to identify aspects of cortical memory coding dependent on components of the hippocampal system. Previous anatomical, neuropsychological, and neurophysiological studies have identified the set of cortical structures and pathways by which these structures interact with the hippocampal region, and have provided a preliminary identification of which components of this systems are important to particular features of hippocampal-dependent memory that can be examined in animals: (1) The cortex and parahippocampal region (perirhinal and entorhinal cortex) mediate the sustained retention of memories for single brief experiences. We will examine the nature of cortical representations in this process, and their dependence on the parahippocampal region in sustaining memory representations. (2) Structures of the hippocampal region mediate the organization and the consolidation of cortical memory representations. We will characterize the nature of cortical representations of stimulus- stimulus associations and determine the extent to which the organization of cortical representations depends on hippocampal function. (3) The hippocampus itself may play an especially important role in learning stimulus configurations and episodic information. We will examine the development and scope of the encoding of stimulus configurations in the hippocampus and determine if hippocampal codings are organized to represent episodic memories. The proposed studies will exploit a well established olfactory- hippocampal model system that exploits the superb capacities of rats for odor-guided learning and memory, and is based on well known anatomical and physiological data about olfactory and hippocampal structures and their interactions. Furthermore, the proposed studies will employ recently developed methods for the collection and analysis of neural ensemble recordings in the cortex and hippocampal region. The findings from this work will improve our understanding of 'what the hippocampus does' and what it does within the system of cortical structures with which it interacts in the service of declarative memory.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
2R01MH051570-06A1
Application #
6192950
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-7 (01))
Program Officer
Anderson, Kathleen C
Project Start
1995-04-01
Project End
2005-06-30
Budget Start
2000-07-03
Budget End
2001-06-30
Support Year
6
Fiscal Year
2000
Total Cost
$269,847
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston University
Department
Psychology
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
042250712
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02215
Eichenbaum, Howard (2018) Barlow versus Hebb: When is it time to abandon the notion of feature detectors and adopt the cell assembly as the unit of cognition? Neurosci Lett 680:88-93
Eichenbaum, Howard (2018) What Versus Where: Non-spatial Aspects of Memory Representation by the Hippocampus. Curr Top Behav Neurosci 37:101-117
Mau, William; Sullivan, David W; Kinsky, Nathaniel R et al. (2018) The Same Hippocampal CA1 Population Simultaneously Codes Temporal Information over Multiple Timescales. Curr Biol 28:1499-1508.e4
Kinsky, Nathaniel R; Sullivan, David W; Mau, William et al. (2018) Hippocampal Place Fields Maintain a Coherent and Flexible Map across Long Timescales. Curr Biol 28:3578-3588.e6
Lisman, John; Buzsáki, György; Eichenbaum, Howard et al. (2017) Viewpoints: how the hippocampus contributes to memory, navigation and cognition. Nat Neurosci 20:1434-1447
Robinson, Nick T M; Priestley, James B; Rueckemann, Jon W et al. (2017) Medial Entorhinal Cortex Selectively Supports Temporal Coding by Hippocampal Neurons. Neuron 94:677-688.e6
Eichenbaum, Howard (2017) Memory: Organization and Control. Annu Rev Psychol 68:19-45
Eichenbaum, Howard (2017) On the Integration of Space, Time, and Memory. Neuron 95:1007-1018
Rangel, Lara M; Rueckemann, Jon W; Riviere, Pamela D et al. (2016) Rhythmic coordination of hippocampal neurons during associative memory processing. Elife 5:e09849
Keene, Christopher S; Bladon, John; McKenzie, Sam et al. (2016) Complementary Functional Organization of Neuronal Activity Patterns in the Perirhinal, Lateral Entorhinal, and Medial Entorhinal Cortices. J Neurosci 36:3660-75

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