#NeuroESC #JournalClub
Reading Mental exploration of future choices during immobility theta oscillations
If you've read it, will you let me know what you think?
The authors look at #ThetaSequences in a working memory task in a radial arm maze. They find theta during immobility (makes sense, e.g. we saw that in our two-goals task). They also find that theta sequences might preferentially represent the next goal (also makes sense, e.g. Hippocampal theta sequences reflect current goals)!
I have only done a quick reading so far, but am confused by a few points:
- the decoding is done on all cells (pyramidals and interneurons), shouldn't it be done on pyramidal or #PlaceCells only?
- the cell counts are quite low (often less than 40 pyrs) when I would have thought at least 50 place cells would be needed for this kind of maze. I guess that shows that #Neuropixels are not the best to record from dCA1!
the decoded algorithm itself includes a ' position transition matrix' which seems like it would bias decoding towards realistic trajectories that the rat is about to do??? (but I probably missed something)
also, this study is very related to this other paper, which is not discussed or even cited (😕 ):
Assembly Responses of Hippocampal CA1 Place Cells Predict Learned Behavior in Goal-Directed Spatial Tasks on the Radial Eight-Arm Maze #CsisvariLab
Let me know what you think!