Seminars and Colloquia
Biology
Neural Basis of Memory
Wed, Feb 26, 2020,
04:00 PM to 05:00 PM
at Seminar Room no. 34, Second Floor
Dr. Niranjan Kambi
Post-doctoral Research Associate at Saalmann Lab in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Abstract:
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Episodic memory refers to our unique ability to record and reconstruct our past experiences. Previous studies have shown that the hippocampus, retrosplenial cortex (RSC) and anterior thalamus (AT) form prominent nodes of an interconnected brain circuit responsible for episodic memory. However, the exact nature of their role and the mutual interactions for memory processing is unknown. To address these questions, I simultaneously recorded spikes and local field potentials (LFP) from the AT, hippocampus and RSC of two macaques performing a novel visuospatial scene memory task. We used diffusion MRI to target linear microelectrode arrays to interconnected sites of this hippocampo-thalamo-cortical network, and structural MRI of electrodes in situ to confirm electrode positions. I will talk about the preliminary analysis from the spiking activity in these brain regions during mnemonic processing of scenes. These results suggest that spiking in RSC and ATN represent spatial and temporal aspects of the scenes. Further, I will also show initial results of dynamic interactions between these brain regions in the service of memory. Overall, this study suggests an important role for the anterior thalamus and retrosplenial cortex in the extended hippocampal system supporting episodic memory. If time permits, I will also talk about other projects in the lab I worked on and my vision in the future regarding how to proceed further in the investigation of the neural basis of memory. |
