Topic: avoidance behavior

One-shot learning is a crucial mechanism for survival and adaptation, enabling rapid acquisition of knowledge from a single experience [1]. Here, we investigated the synaptic plasticity associated with one-shot learning in vivo, focusing on endocannabinoid-mediated long-term potentiation (eCB-LTP) at cortico-striatal synapses [2]. We recorded neural activity in the cortex and striatum of behaving mice subjected to an uncomfortable stimulus in an arena using Neuropixel probes. This task was designed to induce avoidance behavior after a single encounter of the stimulus, thus modeling one-shot le

Object-directed behaviors are crucial for survival in natural environments. Although recent interest has focused on the encoding of objects and the representation of egocentric spatial relationships within the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC), the downstream circuitry and mechanisms orchestrating these behaviors remain elusive. Similarly, significant progress has been made in uncovering amygdala circuit-level mechanisms for defensive and appetitive behaviors, yet integrating spatial object information within specific amygdala circuits remains a puzzle. To address these gaps, we unveil a com

In contemporary neuroscience, a traditional representation approach is complemented by growing interest in neuronal dynamics. We used tetrode technique to study in hippocampal CA1 activity how spatial representations and neuronal dynamics are affected by environmental and task complexity and by rats’ prior learning experience. Each neuronal ensemble was recorded in four recording sessions: a session where a rat was exposed to a stationary rat-sized robot and a session with the robot slowly moving, were flanked by two sessions without the robot. Some rats were trained to avoid a location define