Multistable representations in the hippocampus and related neural systems

大脑以放电模式代表信息，这些放电模式分布在巨大的脑细胞网络中，以发出我们正在经历、计划和思考的信号。这种活动的痕迹在各种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。目前尚不清楚大脑如何编码和读取这种动态活动中的信息，以及不同的信息流如何在放电模式中协调。为了理解基本的神经编码，我们将记录自由运动的大鼠的两个脑细胞网络内的电活动，这些大鼠使用两种信息流在旋转的旋转木马状竞技场上定位自己。在一个细胞网络中，海马体的活动在代表大鼠在稳定房间中的位置和在旋转地板上的位置之间交替。在第二个相关的网络，内侧内嗅皮层，电活动可能会或可能不会波动之间表示两个空间框架的位置信息。为了确定大脑网络之间信息编码和交换的规则，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。除了科学培训外，实验室的学生成员还将接受向外行观众传播科学的专业培训。在这一年中，每个实验室成员将支付几次访问高中科学类沟通的优点和他们的研究工作的进展。因此，该项目将培养下一代科学家的前沿研究和如何成为有效的沟通者，并为高中生提供一个难得的机会，了解科学研究作为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.