Neuronal Ensemble Reactivation in the CA3 Hippocampal Region in Memory Formation due to Pattern Completion

Abstract

The hippocampus functions in many memory processes; not only is it essential to the storage of new memories, but the retrieval of associated memories as well. A postulate of memory recollection called pattern completion, thought to occur in the hippocampus, states that existing memories can be recalled using retrieval cues present at the time the memory was formed. The circuit level mechanisms responsible for episodic memory are considered a display of pattern completion within neuronal networks. This theory assumes memories are recalled when the cells in C3 activated by the original stimulus are reactivated with partial cues that stimulate a subset of the previously potentiated Activated Ensemble (AE) and in turn recall the original neuronal activity pattern. The major goal of this project is to determine if a partial cue that can evoke memory of the original event does lead to activation of the auto-associative neural network corresponding to the original event. We are interested in showing that the magnitude of the reactivation of the original neural network corresponds to the strength of memory for the original event.