CNS Seminar

The hippocampus is a brain structure known to be critical for forming
and retrieving memories for the experiences of daily life, but the
specific patterns of neural activity that support memory formation and
retrieval remain only partially understood.  In this talk I will discuss
work from my laboratory that links a specific pattern of hippocampal
activity to memory.  We have shown that these "replay" events can
reactivate patterns of brain activity from a previous experience in
awake animals and that disrupting these patterns interferes with
learning and memory-guided decision-making.  Our findings suggest that
replay events allow for an exploration of past experiences and future
possibilities which then inform decision making processes in the brain.