Topic: unexpected uncertainty

The locus coeruleus (LC) serves as the primary source of the neuromodulator, norepinephrine (NE), in the brain. Through a widely divergent set of projections, LC neurons have been suggested to release NE ubiquitously to regulate arousal and attention. However, LC-NE is implicated in more precise roles such as mediating learning, promoting task execution, and signaling unexpected uncertainty. Whether and how LC-NE activity facilitates these distinct aspects of behavior is unknown. Here, we show that LC-NE activity displays distinct spatiotemporal dynamics to enable two functions during a learne

In volatile environments, humans and animals face different forms of uncertainty to which they must adapt to thrive. However, our understanding of the neural basis of this adaptation is incomplete, despite, for instance, long-standing arguments about its possible dependence on neuromodulation. Here, we take advantage of the well-known spatial remapping of hippocampal place cells in the face of environmental change to interrogate these processes. We performed calcium imaging in CA1 place cells using a new Uncertain Reward virtual reality Task (URTask), in which mice run along a linear track and