Topic: goal-directed decision making

The hippocampus is thought to form the brain substrate of a cognitive map. While the spatial component of this map involves hippocampal ‘place’ cells, non-spatial features may require coupling with other brain areas. This could involve ‘hippocampal sequences’, endogenous activations of successive place cells representing entire trajectories at a highly accelerated rate. These sequences are paced by theta or ripple oscillations, and could participate in learning and memory, as well as goal-directed decision making. However, the association between hippocampal sequences and reward- and goal-rela