Multistable representations in the hippocampus and related neural systems

大脑以放电的方式表达信息，这些信息分布在巨大的脑细胞网络中，以表明我们正在经历、计划和思考什么。这种活动的痕迹在不同的心理现象中被储存和重新激活，包括感知、学习、回忆、计划和思考。目前还不清楚大脑是如何从这种动态活动中编码和读取信息的，以及不同的信息流是如何在放电模式中协调的。为了努力理解基本的神经密码，我们将记录自由移动的老鼠的两个脑细胞网络中的电活动，这些老鼠使用两种信息流来定位自己在旋转的旋转木马上的位置。海马细胞网络的活动在代表老鼠在稳定房间的位置和在旋转地板上的位置之间交替进行。另一个相关网络，即内侧内嗅皮层的脑电活动可能在位置信息的两个空间框架之间波动，也可能不波动。为了确定信息如何在大脑网络之间编码和交换的规则，我们将研究海马体和内侧内嗅皮层的活动是如何组织和协调的，以发出大鼠位置的信号。除了科学训练之外，实验室的学生成员还将接受专业训练，向外行人传播科学。在这一年中，每个实验室成员将多次访问一个高中科学班，以交流他们研究工作的优点和进展。因此，这个项目将培养下一代科学家在前沿研究和如何成为有效的传播者，并为高中生提供一个难得的机会，让他们了解科学研究是一个探索和创造性解决问题的过程。

Brains represent information in the patterns of electrical discharge that are distributed across vast networks of brain cells to signal what we are experiencing, planning and thinking. Traces of this activity are stored and reactivated during diverse mental phenomena including perception, learning, recollection, planning and thought. It is unknown how the brain encodes and reads the information out of this dynamic activity and how different streams of information are coordinated in the electrical discharge patterns. In the effort to understand the fundamental neural code, we will record electrical activity within two networks of brain cells from freely moving rats that are using two streams of information to locate themselves on a rotating carousel-like arena. The activity in one network of cells, the hippocampus, alternates between representing the rat's position in the stable room and the position on the rotating floor. Electrical activity in a second related network, the medial entorhinal cortex, may or may not fluctuate between representing the two spatial frameworks of position information. To identify the rules of how information is coded and exchanged between brain networks, we will investigate how the activity in the hippocampus and the medial entorhinal cortex is organized and coordinated to signal the rat's location. In additional to scientific training, student members of the laboratory will receive professional training in communicating science to a lay audience. Across the year, each lab member will pay several visits to a high school science class to communicate the merits and progress of their research effort. Thus, this project will train the next generation of scientists in cutting-edge research and how to be effective communicators and provide a rare opportunity for high school students to learn about scientific research as a process of enquiry and creative problem solving.