“A compressed representation of spatial distance in the rodent hippocampus’’
Open accessAbstract
Principal cells in the rodent hippocampus often fire in response to traversal through a specific spatial location (place cells), as well as elapsed time during an imposed temporal delay or after stimulus offset (time cells). Sequences of time cells unfold rapidly at first, with many time cells with narrow time fields. As the triggering event recedes into the past, time cells are fewer and have broader fields. This means that the representation of time in the hippocampus is compressed with greater resolution for time points near the present. Using tetrode recordings we measured individual CA1 units while rats traveled along a track that could be changed in length. Consistent with previous results, most place cells coded for distance from the starting point of the trajectory. Critically, place cells became less numerous and showed gradually widening fields with distance from the starting location. These results suggest that as the animal leaves a landmark, the hippocampal place code forms a compressed representation of distance from the starting location. The representation of time and space in the hippocampus have similar properties suggesting that they arise from similar computational mechanisms. Significance Statement: The hippocampus represents relationships between events in time and space. It has been hypothesized that temporal and spatial relationships are the result of a common computational mechanism. Previous work has shown that the representation of time in the hippocampus is compressed, with less neural resolution for more temporally remote events, consistent with the observation that temporal memory is worse for events further in the past. This paper shows an analogous result for spatial relationships. Place cells coded for distance from the start of a journey. As distance increased, place fields became broader and less numerous, showing a decrease in spatial resolution. This result suggests a unified coding scheme for the dimensions of time and space in the rodent hippocampus.
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Responses to the appropriate sequential contexts in a CSCG naturally explain the remapping of place fields observed as the track length varies.
“Responses to the appropriate sequential contexts in a CSCG naturally explain the remapping of place fields observed as the track length varies.”
From Space is a latent sequence: A theory of the hippocampus (2024) · cites this paper as [28]
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- Authors
- Sheehan, D. J., Charczynski, S., Fordyce, B. A., Hasselmo, M. E., & Howard, M. W.
- Affiliations
- Boston University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sheehan, Daniel J.
- Venue
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Publisher
- openRxiv
- Published
- 2021-02-16
- OpenAlex
- W3133335466
- Semantic Scholar
- 75fa4ae3b038575e9bd9c6be86b990f5717afdd3
- Cited by
- 13
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (N00014-19-1-2571)
- Office of Naval Research (MURI N00014‐19‐1‐2571, NIBIB R01EB022864, N00014-19-1-2571, N00014-19, N00014)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH052090, R01MH095297, R01MH052090, MH120073, R01MH120073)
- National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (R01EB022864)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Neural dynamics and brain function
- Keywords
- hippocampus, place cells, time cells, CA1 neurons, temporal memory
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