Current Biology
Volume 30, Issue 8, 20 April 2020, Pages 1467-1476.e6
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Article
Multiple Maps of the Same Spatial Context Can Stably Coexist in the Mouse Hippocampus

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.02.018Get rights and content
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Highlights

  • Hippocampal neurons switch between distinct maps of the same familiar environment

  • Alternations between maps occur only across separate visits to the same environment

  • Remapping is simultaneous and coherent across place and non-place cells

  • The distinct maps are spatially informative and stable over weeks

Summary

Hippocampal place cells selectively fire when an animal traverses a particular location and are considered a neural substrate of spatial memory. Place cells were shown to change their activity patterns (remap) across different spatial contexts but to maintain their spatial tuning in a fixed familiar context. Here, we show that mouse hippocampal neurons can globally remap, forming multiple distinct representations (maps) of the same familiar environment, without any apparent changes in sensory input or behavior. Alternations between maps occurred only across separate visits to the environment, implying switching between distinct stable attractors in the hippocampal network. Importantly, the different maps were spatially informative and persistent over weeks, demonstrating that they can be reliably stored and retrieved from long-term memory. Taken together, our results suggest that a memory of a given spatial context could be associated with multiple distinct neuronal representations, rather than just one.

Keywords

hippocampus
memory
place cells
calcium imaging
remapping
navigation
attractor
cognitive map

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