Basis Research Institute

INFLUENCE OF HIPPOCAMPUS-LIKE MEMORY REPRESENTATIONS ON DECISION MAKING IN FORAGING BIRDS - ABSTRACT MENTAL DISORDERS THAT IMPAIR THE HIPPOCAMPUS SIGNIFICANTLY DISRUPT PEOPLE’S CAPACITY TO FORM AND RETRIEVE MEMORIES, WHICH ARE ESSENTIAL FOR DAILY DECISION-MAKING. MY LAB’S GOAL IS TO ELUCIDATE THE LINK BETWEEN THE BIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF HIPPOCAMPAL NEURONS AND THEIR ROLE IN MEMORY-GUIDED COGNITIVE BEHAVIORS. THIS RESEARCH WILL INVOLVE MAPPING THESE BEHAVIORS TO THEIR UNDERLYING NEURAL MECHANISMS THROUGH THEORETICAL ANALYSES AND SIMULATIONS OF STATE-SPACE MODELS, INCORPORATING THESE MODELS INTO A RECURRENT NETWORK ARCHITECTURE THAT REFLECTS BIOLOGICAL PLASTICITY RULES. TO CAPTURE MEMORY-GUIDED BEHAVIORS IN THEIR ECOLOGICAL COMPLEXITY, MY LAB WILL UTILIZE CUTTING-EDGE BEHAVIORAL TRACKING TECHNIQUES TO STUDY THE FORAGING BEHAVIOR OF WINTERING BIRDS WITH VARYING MEMORY CAPACITIES: CHICKADEES AND SPARROWS. MY POSTDOCTORAL WORK IN THE ARONOV LAB (K99 PHASE), AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S ZUCKERMAN INSTITUTE, FOCUSED ON NEURAL ACTIVITY UNDERLYING A HIPPOCAMPUS-DEPENDENT ONE-SHOT MEMORY BEHAVIOR, FOOD-CACHING, IN THE MODEL SYSTEM CHICKADEES, CACHING BIRDS WITH EXTREME MEMORY ABILITIES. I DEVELOPED NEW METHODS FOR RECORDING LARGE POPULATIONS OF NEURONS IN THE CHICKADEE HIPPOCAMPUS WHILE THEY CACHE AND RETRIEVE FOOD, AND METHODS FOR PRECISELY TRACKING THEIR CACHING BEHAVIOR. PROBING THE HIPPOCAMPUS AT MOMENTS OF CACHING, I FOUND A NEW MODE OF HIPPOCAMPAL ACTIVITY PATTERNS, WHICH IS REACTIVATED WHEN BIRDS RETURN TO RETRIEVE FOOD. TO COMPARE THIS ONE-SHOT MODE TO REPRESENTATIONS OF CONSISTENT ENVIRONMENTAL FEATURES, I AM REPRODUCING, IN FOOD-CACHING BIRDS, FINDINGS FROM RODENTS SHOWING CHANGES TO PLACE CELLS AT CONSISTENT REWARD ZONES, AND COMPARING THIS TO ONE-SHOT REPRESENTATIONS OF FOOD-CACHING. I ALSO DEVELOPED A THEORETICAL STATE-SPACE MODEL THAT EXPLAINS BOTH ONE-SHOT AND CONSISTENT REPRESENTATIONS IN THE HIPPOCAMPUS, INCORPORATING HIPPOCAMPUS-INSPIRED NEURAL MECHANISMS. HERE, I OUTLINE AN R00-PHASE PLAN TO STUDY HOW VARIATIONS IN HIPPOCAMPAL CAPACITY INFLUENCE DECISION-MAKING PROCESSES DURING FORAGING, PROVIDING INSIGHTS INTO THE ADAPTIVE SIGNIFICANCE OF MEMORY ACROSS SPECIES. IN AIM 1, WE WILL INCORPORATE HIPPOCAMPUS-LIKE REPRESENTATIONS INTO DECISION-MAKING MODELS OF OPTIMAL FORAGING BEHAVIOR, INCLUDING MODELING AGENTS WITH DIFFERENT MEMORY ABILITIES, AND TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT THAT FORAGERS SIMULATED WITH VARYING HIPPOCAMPAL MEMORY CAPACITIES WILL EXHIBIT DISTINCT, SYSTEMATIC FORAGING STRATEGIES. IN AIM 2, WE WILL COLLECT 3D TRACKING DATA OF BIRDS FORAGING IN A NATURAL ENVIRONMENT, USING AN ARRAY OF INFRARED THERMAL CAMERAS, AND COMPARE THESE TRAJECTORIES TO OUR MODEL PREDICTIONS. IN AIM 3, WE WILL EXTEND FORAGING MODELS TO INCLUDE INFORMATION TRANSFER BETWEEN DIFFERENT MEMBERS OF THE FLOCK, MODELING GROUP FORAGING DYNAMICS. BY SIMULATING INFORMATION-SHARING AMONG AGENTS AND COMPARING THE OUTCOMES WITH INDEPENDENT FORAGERS, WE WILL ASSESS HOW SOCIAL DYNAMICS INFLUENCE FORAGING STRATEGIES. THESE MODELS WILL BE VALIDATED AGAINST THE DATA COLLECTED IN AIM 2 AND EXISTING OBSERVATIONS OF BIRD FLOCKS, PROVIDING INSIGHTS INTO THE COGNITIVE AND SOCIAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING NATURAL FORAGING BEHAVIOR.