Collaborative Research: NCS-FO Hippocampal-Cortical Communication and the Extraction of Knowledge from Memory

心理学和神经科学中的一个基本问题是理解一个经历的短暂记忆如何变得稳定并可作为长期记忆。 记忆的一般理论是，睡眠对于使经历的记忆稳定和抗干扰很重要。 有一种特定的理论认为，在学习过程中有两个系统在起作用，一个是快速作用的系统，它将暂时的记忆编码到一个叫做海马体的大脑区域，另一个是较慢的系统，它将这些记忆在睡眠期间转移到更高级别皮层区域的更永久的形式。 这个过程依赖于海马体和皮层之间的交流互动。 目前的研究是第一个直接测试大脑区域之间的交织互动在形成稳定的更永久的记忆从经验的假设。 快速反应和长期表征之间的这种相互作用的证据对于理解一些涉及记忆的神经问题，解释记忆随年龄的变化以及开发新的强大的计算机记忆系统具有重要意义。该项目为博士后研究员提供培训机会，并传播数据和工具。 当啮齿动物获得新的记忆并将这些记忆巩固为稳定的更永久的长期记忆形式时，将从海马体和新皮层同时进行电子和光学记录。 该项目研究了这些不同大脑区域的活动模式，以验证休息状态下交错的活动模式反映了近期和长期记忆的相互作用的假设。 此外，通过比较静息状态和任务依赖状态下的大脑活动，我们可以研究稳定的长期记忆是否会通过巩固而变得不那么详细、更普遍。 这项研究将测量沿着大脑电活动的整体模式的尖峰神经元集合的模式，以测试这些关于记忆巩固过程的假设。

A fundamental problem in psychology and neuroscience is to understand how the transient memory of an experience becomes stabilized and available as long-term memory. A general theory of memory is that sleep is important to make the memory of an experience stable and resistant to interference. One specific theory has proposed that there are two systems at work during learning, a fast acting system that encodes temporary memories into a brain area called the hippocampus and a slower system that transfer these memories during sleep into a more permanent form in higher-level cortical regions. This process depends on a communicative interaction between the hippocampus and cortex. The present research is the first to directly test the hypothesis of the interleaved interaction between brain regions in the formation of stable more permanent memories from experience. Evidence of this interaction between fast-acting and long-term representations has implications for understanding a number of neurological problems involving memory, for explaining changes in memory with aging, and for the development of new robust computer memory systems. The project provides training opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and data and tools dissemination. Simultaneous electrical and optical recordings from the hippocampus and neocortex will be made as rodents acquire new memories and consolidate these memories into a stable more permanent form of long-term memory. The project examines patterns of activity in these different brain regions to test the hypothesis that interleaved activity patterns during resting state reflects an interplay of recent and long-term memories. Further, a comparison of brain activity in resting states and task-dependent states will examine the question of whether stable long-term memories are regularized by consolidation to be less detailed and more general. The research will measure patterns in collections of spiking neurons along with global patterns of brain electrical activity to test these hypotheses about the process of memory consolidation.