How development sculpts memory circuits

In mammals, the selective transformation of transient experience into stored memory occurs in the hippocampus, which develops representations of specific events in the context in which they occur. In this talk, I will focus on the development of hippocampal circuits and the self-organized dynamics embedded in them since the latter critically support the role of the hippocampus in memory. I will discuss evidence that adult hippocampal cells and circuits are remarkably sculpted by development, as early as embryonic neurogenesis. We argue that these primary developmental programs provide a scaffold onto which later experience of the external world can be grafted. Next, I will present data on the emergence of recurrent connectivity and self-organized dynamics in hippocampal circuits and outline the critical turn points and discontinuities in that developmental journey.