Computational neuroscience: Hippocampus

Extensive computational neuroscience research has addressed the functional role of the hippocampus and associated cortical structures. In this field, computational models of the hippocampus have simulated physiological phenomena ranging from single cell membrane potential dynamics to the spiking activity of neurons relative to network field potential oscillations. Other models have focused on simulating specific behavioral functions of the hippocampus including episodic memory, classical conditioning, and spatial memory. Starting with influential papers by Marr and by McNaughton and Morris, many studies have focused on basic functions of hippocampus including pattern separation in the dentate gyrus and pattern completion in region CA3. This theoretical framework has been the focus of a number of experimental tests over the years, including neurophysiological studies of patterns of neuronal activity in behaving rats. Research has also addressed network dynamics in the hippocampus including theta rhythm oscillations, theta phase precession, and the patterns of grid cell firing in entorhinal cortex.