Elsevier

Neuroscience Research

Volume 165, April 2021, Pages 1-5
Neuroscience Research

Review article
Heterogeneous representations in the hippocampus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neures.2020.05.002Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Highlights

  • CA1 pyramidal cells represent both space and context.

  • During encoding, distinct subsets of CA1 neurons are allocated to contextual indexing and spatial mapping.

  • The hippocampal role in memory might not be unitary rather heterogeneous.

Abstract

The hippocampus is essential for some types of memory, but its specific role remains conjectural. While studies on place cells have supported the hypothesis that the hippocampus provides a spatial substrate for episodic memory, recent engram studies have shown that optogenetic activation of a subset of hippocampal neurons that lack a temporal structure of the spike sequences can also induce memory-associated behavior. In this short review, I discuss the various lines of research that have led to different views of the role of the hippocampus in memory and propose a plausible interpretation of the findings that incorporates two influential theories.

Keywords

Hippocampus
Memory engram
c-Fos
Contextual memory
Place cell
Memory trace
Immediate early genes

Cited by (0)

Review article for the Japan Neuroscience Society Young Investigator Award 2020