Recent findings show that hippocampal neurons shift their activity backward in time as learning occurs, enabling anticipation of rewards before they happen. Using calcium imaging in mice performing a delayed nonmatching-to-location task, the study tracked the same neurons over weeks and observed a backpropagation of tuning from reward delivery to earlier moments, including the moment of correct touchscreen choice. The results portray the hippocampus as a dynamic predictive map that reorganizes with experience to guide future behavior.
This work is of interest to psychology because it provides concrete neural evidence for predictive coding and memory-based anticipation, illustrating how learning reshapes mental representations to forecast future events. It links memory, prediction, and action in a measurable neural framework.
Article Title: Hippocampal neurons shift their activity backward in time to anticipate rewards
Link to PsyPost Article: ift dot tt/fVBpnxF
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#Hippocampus #PredictiveCoding #NeuralPlasticity #CalciumImaging #RewardLearning
