CAREER: Hippocampal and prefrontal mechanisms underlying the temporal context of episodic memory

在整个动物王国，情景记忆是一种非凡的、高度适应的能力。情景记忆指的是记住生活中发生的事件的能力，包括每次经历发生的具体地点和时间的细节。尽管情景记忆已被广泛研究，但人们对情景记忆的大脑基础仍知之甚少。这个项目使用啮齿动物情景记忆模型来解决这个重要问题，该模型侧重于记忆特定事件“何时”发生的能力（即，事件在序列中的顺序和事件发生后经过的时间）。更具体地说，该项目侧重于利用高精度技术表征海马体和前额皮质的作用，例如局部大脑失活和记录大鼠从事记忆任务时单个脑细胞的电特性。该项目将确定海马体和前额皮质在记忆特定事件发生时所起的不同作用。此外，研究结果还可能揭示这两种大脑结构在信息处理过程中是如何相互作用的。该项目的另一个目标是开发有效的教育实践和材料，以促进在科学领域未被充分代表的群体的早期科学培训和意识，并支持年轻科学家在实验室和课堂上的发展。所有开发的教育工具将在实验室网站（http://fortinlab.bio.uci.edu）以及在线教育信息库(如学习和在线教学的多媒体教育资源（merlot.org）和OER Commons （oercommons.org）上公开共享。

Across the animal kingdom, episodic memory is a remarkable and highly adaptive ability. Episodic memory refers to the capacity to remember the events in one's life, including details about the specific location and time in which each experience occurred. Although it has been extensively studied, the brain basis of episodic memory remains poorly understood. This project addresses this important issue using a rodent model of episodic memory that focuses on the capacity to remember "when" specific events occurred (i.e., the order of events in a sequence and the time elapsed since an event occurred). More specifically, this project focuses on characterizing the role of the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex using high-precision techniques, such as localized brain inactivation and recording the electrical properties of single brain cells while rats are engaged in memory tasks. This project will identify the distinct roles that the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex play in remembering when specific events occurred. Furthermore, the results will also likely shed light on how the two brain structures interact during information processing. A concurrent objective of this project is to develop effective educational practices and materials to promote early science training and awareness in groups underrepresented in science, and to support the development of young scientists in the laboratory and classroom. All developed educational tools will be openly shared on the lab website (http://fortinlab.bio.uci.edu) as well as online repositories of educational information such as Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (merlot.org) and OER Commons (oercommons.org).