Brain meeting: Daniel Bush

Brain meeting 

The mammalian hippocampus is implicated in spatial and episodic memory function. In the rodent, hippocampal network dynamics can be characterised by oscillatory activity in the 6-12Hz theta band during active behaviour, and in the 150-250Hz ripple band during quiescent waking and sleep. During these periods, hippocampal place cells encode behavioural trajectories on a compressed timescale as theta sweeps and replay events, respectively. First, I will present a series of MEG and intracranial EEG experiments showing that human hippocampal theta oscillations play a role in spatial coding, functional connectivity and memory. Second, I will describe how oscillatory activity can support the phase coding of information in the central nervous system. Using rodent place cell recordings, I demonstrate that such phase coding is preserved across different network states. Finally, I will present preliminary MEG data that aims to probe the role of hippocampal replay in goal-directed navigation. This allows us to examine the development of replay with experience, and dissociate replay of novel trajectories from that that have been experienced previously. Happy Valentine’s day. 

There will be coffee, tea and cake in the conservatory directly after the talk.