Moving bar of light evokes vectorial spatial selectivity in the immobile rat hippocampus

Chinmay S. Purandare, Shonali Dhingra, Rodrigo Rios, Cliff Vuong, Thuc To, Ayaka Hachisuka, Krishna Choudhary and Mayank R. Mehta ()
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Chinmay S. Purandare: UCLA
Shonali Dhingra: UCLA
Rodrigo Rios: UCLA
Cliff Vuong: UCLA
Thuc To: UCLA
Ayaka Hachisuka: UCLA
Krishna Choudhary: UCLA
Mayank R. Mehta: UCLA

Nature, 2022, vol. 602, issue 7897, 461-467

Abstract: Abstract Visual cortical neurons encode the position and motion direction of specific stimuli retrospectively, without any locomotion or task demand1. The hippocampus, which is a part of the visual system, is hypothesized to require self-motion or a cognitive task to generate allocentric spatial selectivity that is scalar, abstract2,3 and prospective4–7. Here we measured rodent hippocampal selectivity to a moving bar of light in a body-fixed rat to bridge these seeming disparities. About 70% of dorsal CA1 neurons showed stable activity modulation as a function of the angular position of the bar, independent of behaviour and rewards. One-third of tuned cells also encoded the direction of revolution. In other experiments, neurons encoded the distance of the bar, with preference for approaching motion. Collectively, these demonstrate visually evoked vectorial selectivity (VEVS). Unlike place cells, VEVS was retrospective. Changes in the visual stimulus or its predictability did not cause remapping but only caused gradual changes. Most VEVS-tuned neurons behaved like place cells during spatial exploration and the two selectivities were correlated. Thus, VEVS could form the basic building block of hippocampal activity. When combined with self-motion, reward or multisensory stimuli8, it can generate the complexity of prospective representations including allocentric space9, time10,11 and episodes12.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04404-x

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