MBC Special Seminar

Francesco P. Battaglia, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Nijmegen

Cortico-hippocampal interactions for memory

Memory representations are evolving objects through the lifetime of a memory. The recording of large groups of neurons from behaving animals has been instrumental for investigating brain networks dynamics supporting memory encoding consolidation and retrieval. Classically, upon memory encoding during active behavior, hippocampal activity is dominated by theta oscillations. During inactivity, hippocampal neurons burst synchronously, constituting sharp waves, which can propagate to other structures, theoretically supporting memory consolidation, the PFC as a prominent target. This ‘two-stage’ model has been updated by new data from high-density electrophysiological recordings in animals that shed light on how information is encoded and exchanged between hippocampus and PFC. These interactions represent the mechanistic underpinning for memory consolidation, and for the reorganization of memory. One aspect of this reorganization is the accumulation of evidence in time, in order to evaluate statistical regularities in the environment. I will present some new data from newly designed tasks for rodents, that tap into this evidence accumulation process, and are compatible with electrophysiological and calcium imaging analysis of circuit activity