Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Neurons are thought to represent information by spikes, but which specific aspect of spiking activity represents information is debated.Place coding in the mammalian hippocampus provides a useful system for studying forms of neuronal coding.Individual pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 region spike when an exploring rodent is at a particular part of the environment, the "place field" of the cell. 1 Place cell firing is a "rate code", where the rate profile is independent of the millisecond timing of individual spikes.During locomotion, local field potentials in the rodent hippocampus exhibit rhythmic theta (4-11 Hz) oscillations.In many place fields, the spikes follow a specific temporal pattern: when the animal enters the field, spikes occur at the peak of the theta wave, and subsequent spikes occur at progressively earlier phases.2 Knowing the phase in which a spike occurs can indicate where the animal is within the place field.This "phase precession" is an example of a "phase code", in which the phase of the individual spike with respect to the ongoing theta may carry information beyond the firing rate.3 The observation that both rate and phase codes may carry information about the same parameter in the same neuron provides an opportunity for understanding how these codes are generated.A priori, there are at least three options (Figure 1): a rate code might be somehow
DOI: 10.1002/ctm2.70092
Authors: Eran Stark, Hadas E. Sloin
Institutions: University of Haifa, University of Oxford
Language: English
Topic: Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,470
Funder: Rosetrees Trust
Award: G353135678
OpenAlex ID: W4404340856