The hippocampus creates a cognitive map of the external environment by encoding spatial and self-motion-related information. However, it is unclear whether hippocampal neurons could also incorporate internal cognitive states reflecting an animal’s exploratory intention, which is not driven by rewards or unexpected sensory stimuli. In this study, a subgroup of CA1 neurons was found to encode both spatial information and animals’ investigatory intentions in male mice. These neurons became active before the initiation of exploration behaviors at specific locations and were nearly silent when the same fields were traversed without exploration. Interestingly, this neuronal activity could not be explained by object features, rewards, or mismatches in environmental cues. Inhibition of the lateral entorhinal cortex decreased the activity of these cells during exploration. Our findings demonstrate that hippocampal neurons may bridge external and internal signals, indicating a potential connection between spatial representation and intentional states in the construction of internal navigation systems.

海马体通过编码空间和自我运动相关信息来创建外部环境的认知图。然而，目前尚不清楚海马神经元是否也可以纳入反映动物探索意图的内部认知状态，这种探索意图不是由奖励或意外的感官刺激驱动的。在这项研究中，我们发现雄性小鼠的 CA1 神经元亚群可以编码空间信息和动物的研究意图。这些神经元在特定位置开始探索行为之前变得活跃，而当在没有探索的情况下穿过相同的区域时，这些神经元几乎保持沉默。有趣的是，这种神经元活动不能用物体特征、奖励或环境线索的不匹配来解释。外侧内嗅皮层的抑制降低了这些细胞在探索过程中的活性。我们的研究结果表明，海马神经元可以桥接外部和内部信号，表明空间表征和内部导航系统构建中的意向状态之间存在潜在联系。