On natural behavior, spatial coding and multisensory integration in rodents.

Speaker: Anton Sirota, LMU
Series: Adrian Seminars in Neuroscience

The hippocampal role in memory and spatial cognition is consistent with predictive computation, in which internal states, behavioral actions, and multimodal sensory inputs are integrated into predictions about the external world. Using high-resolution behavioral analysis, we show how internal exploratory states and egocentric actions shape hippocampal spatial representations. Similarly, we find that behavioral states modulate the head-direction system, indicating that internal state influences directional coding as well. Using a virtual reality system for freely moving rodents, we further demonstrate that hippocampal spatial representations are consistent with predictive inference based on the weighted integration of internal idiothetic and external allothetic sensory inputs, and that they are aligned with behavioral actions. Finally, by combining a VR-enabled spatial memory paradigm with detailed behavioral analysis, we assess the contribution of multiple sensory inputs to spatial memory formation.