Topic: T-maze

Interactions between frontal cortex and hippocampus (HPC) play a key role in decision-making behaviors. Here, we test how these brain areas coordinate their representations of behavioral and cognitive variables in a task that requires both. We use a virtual reality task in which mice navigate in a T-maze and accumulate transiently visible and stochastic left/right cues to infer the correct reward location. Neural data is recorded acutely with up to 10 Neuropixel shanks simultaneously in bilateral HPC and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). To compare neural activity patterns, we analyze this data

To flexibly update behavior in response to a sudden change in outcome of previously learned cues and actions, neural activity in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) must be updated. Novelty activates the locus coeruleus (LC), a group of cells in the brainstem that release the neurotransmitter norepinephrine (NE) throughout the brain. NE release may drive behavioral flexibility by facilitating the reorganization of neural activity in target brain areas, including the OFC. To test this hypothesis, mice were assessed in a T-maze reversal learning task, which requires subjects to reverse a previo

Predicting the future outcomes of actions forms the basis for reinforcement learning to shape goal-directed behaviours. Recent work showed that learning based on predicting future sensory experience using the current state and action of an agent leads to representations that resemble those in the brain, for instance place and grid cells of the medial temporal lobe. Here we ask if combining ongoing predictive learning of sensory events and of notional value of actions leading to rewards forms representations that enable more efficient goal-directed learning than reinforcement learning alone. Si

The subiculum (SUB) plays an essential role in spatial navigation. Compared with the hippocampal CA1 area, the SUB uniquely encodes navigational information. However, the geometry of population activity in the SUB remains to be determined. This study investigated neural population activity recorded extracellularly from the CA1 and SUB of rats performing T-maze and open-field tasks. The population activity in both areas was confined to low-dimensional neural manifolds that were homeomorphic to the external space. The neural manifolds conveyed information about the rats' position, speed, and fut

Animals integrate new information with their pre-existing memories to navigate their environment efficiently. Neuromodulation influences the balance between prior and current information, with β-adrenergic modulation playing a key role in memory and emotionally motivated processes (DOI: 10.1038/s41583-020-0360-9). We investigated the impact of central β-adrenergic activation on the renewal of a spatial appetitive learning task. Rats were trained to locate a low-probability reward in a T-Maze in context A, and the next day an extinction learning session took place in context B. After a day, the