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MSc Exit Seminar – Maryna Pilkiw – (Takehara lab)
December 9, 2016 @ 10:10 am - 10:40 am
MSc Exit Seminar
Friday December 9th, 10:10 am – Ramsay Wright Building, Rm. 432
Maryna Pilkiw (Takehara lab)
“Encoding of Physical and Relational Information in the Lateral Entorhinal Cortex“
Abstract
Stimuli are processed more quickly when they are presented within their original context. This phenomenon may depend on neural representations of situational context associated with the history of stimuli encountered in a particular environment. Here we report evidence that cells in the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) stably represent the current situation, regardless of moment-to-moment changes in the environment. Ensemble activity in the LEC drastically differentiated six blocks of Pavlovian conditioning, where each block differed in conditioning environment, conditioned stimulus, or the association between a conditioned and unconditioned stimulus. Despite high selectivity for stimulus features, firing rates of most cells were relatively stable throughout the entire conditioning block and marginally changed at stimulus onset. With learning, selectivity for the stimulus relationship improved, while selectivity for other features did not. The stable LEC ensemble code for the current situation may provide the basis for the formation and retrieval of accurate, context-rich memories.
Ramsay Wright is a wheelchair accessible building.