Speaker:
Mayank Mehta, Integrative Center for Learning and Memory, Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, US.
Abstract:
The hippocampus is involved in a range of behaviors including navigation and learning. Hippocampal activity is governed by a variety of stimuli. Thus, to understand these phenomena it is necessary to determine how multisensory stimuli influence hippocampal activity and multimodal behavior. It is difficult to dissociate and manipulate multisensory stimuli and simultaneously measure neural activity and multimodal behavior in the real world. Hence, we have developed a noninvasive multisensory and multimodal virtual reality maze. I will discuss recent, surprising findings about hippocampal spatio-temporal selectivity and behavioral performance in this maze, which points to novel mechanisms governing spatial navigation and learning.