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Hippocampal map realignment and spatial learning

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 609–615 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

The spatial selectivity of hippocampal neurons suggests that they contribute to an internal representation of current location. The activity of hippocampal pyramidal cells was recorded while adult (10–13 months old) and aged (24–28 months old) rats performed a task in which two spatial reference frames were put in conflict. Rats attempted to find an unmarked goal whose position was fixed relative to only one of the two reference frames. The ability of a rat's hippocampus to adjust to the conflicting information and use the 'correct' position estimate (hippocampal map 'realignment') was correlated with the rat's ability to find the hidden goal. In addition, aged rats were impaired relative to adult rats in both goal-finding accuracy and map realignment. Thus, changes in the effectiveness with which the hippocampal spatial representation is updated on the basis of external cues may contribute to both within-age-group spatial learning variability and age-related spatial learning deficits.

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Figure 1: The linear track task.
Figure 2: Estimation of task learning from the speed profile of one rat.
Figure 3: Aged rats did not learn the location of the goal as well as did adult rats.
Figure 4: Mismatch of position information from self-motion and room cues during outbound journeys.
Figure 5: Place fields can be aligned to the room or to the start box (or they may show intermediate alignment; see Fig. 6.)
Figure 6: Calculation of the transition point.
Figure 7: Mean field slopes at each position (10-cm bins) in aged and adult rats.
Figure 8: Learning of the goal location was correlated with the position of map realignment.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank J. Bohanick, J. Gerrard, S. de Dios, J. Dees, J. Yuan, K. Hardesty, N. Insel, J. Meltzer, J. Wang and K. Weaver-Sommers for help running experiments and processing data. This research was supported by Public Health Service grants AG12609, AG05805 and MH01565.

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Author notes

  1. A David Redish

    Present address: Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, 6-145 Jackson Hall, 321 Church St., Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Neural Systems, Arizona Research Laboratories, Memory, and Aging, 384 Life Sciences North, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85724, Arizona, USA

    Ephron S Rosenzweig, A David Redish, Bruce L McNaughton & Carol A Barnes

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85724, Arizona, USA

    Bruce L McNaughton & Carol A Barnes

  3. Department of Physiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85724, Arizona, USA

    Bruce L McNaughton

  4. Department of Neurology, University of Arizona, Tucson, 85724, Arizona, USA

    Carol A Barnes

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Correspondence to Carol A Barnes.

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Rosenzweig, E., Redish, A., McNaughton, B. et al. Hippocampal map realignment and spatial learning. Nat Neurosci 6, 609–615 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1053

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