Hippocampal/cortical interactions in spatial behaviors   PhD. Etienne SAVE (CNRS Université de Provence, Marseille, France.)

Spatial behaviors in animals depend on a distributed brain network. The function of the hippocampus in this network is crucial but requires interactions with a number of cortical areas.     A recent discovery have revealed the existence of "grid cells" (cells with firing fields forming a grid structure) in the entorhinal cortex which constitute the major cortical input to the hippocampus. Marianne Fyhn will present an overview of the grid cells studies and Torkel Hafting some new data about the interactions between the entorhinal grid cells and the hippocampal place cells.     The existence of a specific connection between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex and suggest a functional interaction between the two structures. A recent study have suggested that the prefrontal cortex contribute to goal encoding (Etienne Save).     The forth presentation will consider the interaction between the hippocampus and the cortex in the perspective of the dynamics of spatial memory processes (Bruno Bontempi). Marianne FYHN: Spatial representation in the entorhinal cortex. Torkel HAFTING: Interactions between entorhinal grid cells and hippocampal place cells. Etienne SAVE: Interactions between prefrontal cells and hippocampal place cells. Bruno BONTEMPI: Hippocampal-cortical interaction during spatial memory processing.