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Summary: Researchers have discovered a new role for the hippocampus in decision-making, showing that specific brain cells, known as “time cells,” are stimulated by odors to facilitate quick “go or no-go” decisions.
This study demonstrates how mice learned to associate fruity odors with a reward, allowing them to make faster and more efficient decisions.
By tracking the activation of these cells in response to odors, the team has revealed a direct link between odor, hippocampal function and associative learning, suggesting that these cells play a crucial role beyond memory recall. , directly influencing the brain’s decision-making process.
Key facts:
- The study identifies “time cells” in the hippocampus as key players in the brain’s decision-making process, stimulated by specific odors to trigger quick decisions.
- Mice were able to associate fruity odors with positive outcomes, demonstrating how odor cues can enhance the learning of decision-making behaviors.
- This research sheds light on the intricate relationship between sensory perception and cognitive processes, revealing new insights into the role of the hippocampus in associative learning and decision making.
Fountain: University of Colorado
Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered that odors stimulate specific brain cells that may play a role in making rapid “go or no-go” decisions.
The study was published online Tuesday in the journal Current biology.
The scientists focused on the hippocampus, an area of the brain crucial for memory and learning. They knew that so-called “time cells” played an important role in hippocampal function, but they did not know their role in associative learning.
“These are cells that remind you to make a decision: Do this or do that,” said the study’s senior author, Diego Restrepo, PhD, a neuroscientist and professor of cell and developmental biology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. .
The researchers observed that when mice were given the option to respond to a fruity odor by licking a spout that delivered fresh water, they quickly learned to lick the fruity odor instead of the mineral oil odor.
“They have to associate the smell with the outcome of what they’re doing, so they learn to make decisions,” said Ming Ma, PhD, first author of the study and senior instructor in cell and developmental biology at the CU School. Medicine. “When it smells fruit, they lick it and get a reward. When it is mineral oil they stop licking.”
“The more they learned, the more the cells were stimulated, leading to faster decoding of odors and allowing the mice to quickly become competent in choosing the fruity odor,” said Fabio Simoes de Souza, DSc, another first author of the study and research assistant professor in cell and developmental biology at the CU School of Medicine.
The catalyst for decision making is the smell that rises through the nose, sending neural signals to the olfactory bulb and the hippocampus. The two organs are closely connected. The information is processed quickly and the brain makes a decision based on the information received.
“Before this we didn’t know that there were decision-making cells in the hippocampus,” Restrepo said. “The hippocampus performs multiple tasks.”
The cells are not always on, Restrepo speculated, because otherwise the stimuli could become overwhelming.
The study expands current knowledge about what decision-making entails in the brain, specifically those quick go-or-no-go decisions that mice and humans make all the time.
“The hippocampus activates timing cells that predict decisions, which would give you a clue of what to remember,” Restrepo said. “In the past, time cells were thought to only remember events and time. “Here we see memory encoded in neurons and then instantly retrieved when making a decision.”
About this neuroscience research news
Author: David Kelly
Fountain: University of Colorado
Contact: David Kelly – University of Colorado
Image: Image is credited to Neuroscience News.
Original research: Open access.
“Sequential activity of hippocampal CA1 cells constitutes a temporal memory map for associative learning in mice”by Diego Restrepo et al. Current biology
Abstract
Sequential activity of hippocampal CA1 cells constitutes a temporal memory map for associative learning in mice
Sequential neuronal dynamics encoded by timing cells play a crucial role in hippocampal function. However, the role of hippocampal sequential neuronal dynamics in associative learning is an open question.
We use two-photon Ca2+ Imaging dorsal CA1 (dCA1) neurons in the stratum pyramidalis (SP) in head-fixed mice performing an associative learning task to investigate how odor valence is temporally encoded in this brain area.
We found that SP cells responded differently to rewarded or unrewarded odor. Stimuli were accurately decoded from neuronal ensemble activity, and accuracy increased substantially as the animal learned to differentiate the stimuli.
Decoding the stimulus from individual differentially responding SP cells revealed that decision making occurred at discrete times after stimulus presentation. Licking prediction decoded from the joint activity of cells in dCA1 was linearly correlated with licking behavior.
Our findings indicate that the sequential activity of SP cells in dCA1 constitutes a temporal memory map used for decision making in associative learning.