Princeton scientists identify neural activity sequences that
help form memory, decision-making Posted March 14, 2012; 02:00
p.m. Princeton University researchers have used a novel virtual
reality and brain imaging system to detect a form of neural
activity underlying how the brain forms short-term memories that
are used in making decisions. By following the brain activity of
mice as they navigated a virtual reality maze, the researchers
found that populations of neurons fire in distinctive sequences
when the brain is holding a memory. Previous research centered
on the idea that populations of neurons fire together with
similar patterns to each other during the memory period. The
study was performed in the laboratory of David Tank, who is
Princeton's Henry L. Hillman Professor in Molecular Biology and
co-director of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. Both Tank
and Christopher Harvey, who was first author on the paper and a
postdoctoral researcher at the time of the experiments, said
they were surprised to d