Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.

Episodic-like memory is thought to be supported by attractor dynamics in the hippocampus. A possible neural substrate for this memory mechanism is rate remapping, in which the spatial map of place cells encodes contextual information through firing rate variability. To test whether memories are stor...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Trygve Solstad, Hosam N Yousif, Terrence J Sejnowski
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2014-06-01
Series:PLoS Computational Biology
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4046921?pdf=render
_version_ 1818034873924845568
author Trygve Solstad
Hosam N Yousif
Terrence J Sejnowski
author_facet Trygve Solstad
Hosam N Yousif
Terrence J Sejnowski
author_sort Trygve Solstad
collection DOAJ
description Episodic-like memory is thought to be supported by attractor dynamics in the hippocampus. A possible neural substrate for this memory mechanism is rate remapping, in which the spatial map of place cells encodes contextual information through firing rate variability. To test whether memories are stored as multimodal attractors in populations of place cells, recent experiments morphed one familiar context into another while observing the responses of CA3 cell ensembles. Average population activity in CA3 was reported to transition gradually rather than abruptly from one familiar context to the next, suggesting a lack of attractive forces associated with the two stored representations. On the other hand, individual CA3 cells showed a mix of gradual and abrupt transitions at different points along the morph sequence, and some displayed hysteresis which is a signature of attractor dynamics. To understand whether these seemingly conflicting results are commensurate with attractor network theory, we developed a neural network model of the CA3 with attractors for both position and discrete contexts. We found that for memories stored in overlapping neural ensembles within a single spatial map, position-dependent context attractors made transitions at different points along the morph sequence. Smooth transition curves arose from averaging across the population, while a heterogeneous set of responses was observed on the single unit level. In contrast, orthogonal memories led to abrupt and coherent transitions on both population and single unit levels as experimentally observed when remapping between two independent spatial maps. Strong recurrent feedback entailed a hysteretic effect on the network which diminished with the amount of overlap in the stored memories. These results suggest that context-dependent memory can be supported by overlapping local attractors within a spatial map of CA3 place cells. Similar mechanisms for context-dependent memory may also be found in other regions of the cerebral cortex.
first_indexed 2024-12-10T06:46:05Z
format Article
id doaj.art-49c686d0cdbe4de6ac7f9f2c5a7f8498
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1553-734X
1553-7358
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-10T06:46:05Z
publishDate 2014-06-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS Computational Biology
spelling doaj.art-49c686d0cdbe4de6ac7f9f2c5a7f84982022-12-22T01:58:39ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Computational Biology1553-734X1553-73582014-06-01106e100364810.1371/journal.pcbi.1003648Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.Trygve SolstadHosam N YousifTerrence J SejnowskiEpisodic-like memory is thought to be supported by attractor dynamics in the hippocampus. A possible neural substrate for this memory mechanism is rate remapping, in which the spatial map of place cells encodes contextual information through firing rate variability. To test whether memories are stored as multimodal attractors in populations of place cells, recent experiments morphed one familiar context into another while observing the responses of CA3 cell ensembles. Average population activity in CA3 was reported to transition gradually rather than abruptly from one familiar context to the next, suggesting a lack of attractive forces associated with the two stored representations. On the other hand, individual CA3 cells showed a mix of gradual and abrupt transitions at different points along the morph sequence, and some displayed hysteresis which is a signature of attractor dynamics. To understand whether these seemingly conflicting results are commensurate with attractor network theory, we developed a neural network model of the CA3 with attractors for both position and discrete contexts. We found that for memories stored in overlapping neural ensembles within a single spatial map, position-dependent context attractors made transitions at different points along the morph sequence. Smooth transition curves arose from averaging across the population, while a heterogeneous set of responses was observed on the single unit level. In contrast, orthogonal memories led to abrupt and coherent transitions on both population and single unit levels as experimentally observed when remapping between two independent spatial maps. Strong recurrent feedback entailed a hysteretic effect on the network which diminished with the amount of overlap in the stored memories. These results suggest that context-dependent memory can be supported by overlapping local attractors within a spatial map of CA3 place cells. Similar mechanisms for context-dependent memory may also be found in other regions of the cerebral cortex.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4046921?pdf=render
spellingShingle Trygve Solstad
Hosam N Yousif
Terrence J Sejnowski
Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
PLoS Computational Biology
title Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
title_full Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
title_fullStr Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
title_full_unstemmed Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
title_short Place cell rate remapping by CA3 recurrent collaterals.
title_sort place cell rate remapping by ca3 recurrent collaterals
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4046921?pdf=render
work_keys_str_mv AT trygvesolstad placecellrateremappingbyca3recurrentcollaterals
AT hosamnyousif placecellrateremappingbyca3recurrentcollaterals
AT terrencejsejnowski placecellrateremappingbyca3recurrentcollaterals