Relating episodic memory and episodic future thinking in hippocampus

一篇广泛的文献表明前额叶皮质和海马体 在情节记忆中，特别是在这些记忆的重建中； 越来越多的文献现在建议这些结构在规划和管理中发挥作用 想象力，尤其是在构建未来潜在情节时， 这个过程被称为“断断续续的未来思考”。这两个过程具有明显的 相似之处(它们都需要构建情节表征)和明显的 差异(记忆试图重建真实的过去，想象力试图 假设一个潜在的未来)。然而，目前还不知道这种神经回路是如何 造成这些现象，也不知道信息处理有何不同 在他们之间。新的数学技术现在允许解码 以非常快的时间尺度表示来自神经集成的变量，使 对瞬时的、隐蔽的过程的观察。这项提案的目标是使用 这些新技术用于跟踪认知(10毫秒)时表征的变化 时间尺度。结合新可用的多结构记录技术， 新开发的任务，新改进的神经集成分析技术， 和对大脑皮层的因果操作，我们将研究它们之间的关系 在对过去事件和未来可能性的表现之间 海马体确定海马体计算的机制 这些陈述。

An extensive literature suggests a role for the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in episodic memory, particularly in the re-construction of those memories; a growing literature is now suggesting a role for these structures in planning and imagination, particularly in the construction of future potential episodes, a process termed ``episodic future thinking''. These two processes have obvious similarities (they both entail construction of episodic representations) and obvious differences (memory is trying to reconstruct a real past, imagination is trying to hypothesize a potential future). However, it is not known how this neural circuit contributes to these phenomena, nor how the information processing differs between them. New mathematical techniques now allow decoding of represented variables from neural ensembles at very fast timescales, enabling the observation of transient, covert processes. The goal of this proposal is to use these new techniques to track changes in representation at cognitive (10 ms) timescales. Combining newly available multi-structure recording techniques, newly developed tasks, newly improved neural ensemble analysis techniques, and causal manipulations of the prelimbic cortex, we will examine the relationship between the representations of past events and future possibilities in hippocampus to determine the mechanism by which the hippocampus computes these representations.