Spatial learning correlates with decreased hippocampal activity in the goal-directed behavior of pigeons

Studies have suggested that the hippocampus (Hp) plays an important role in spatial learning and avian Hp is thought to have similar functions with mammals. However, the dynamic neural pattern of hippocampal activity is still unclear in the continuous spatial learning processes of birds. In this study, we recorded the behavioral data and local field potential (LFP) activity from Hp of pigeons performing goal-directed behavior. Then the spectral properties and time-frequency properties of the LFPs are analyzed, comparing with the behavioral changes during spatial learning. The results indicated that the power of the LFP signal in the gamma band shown decreasing trend during spatial learning. Time-frequency analysis results shown that the hippocampal gamma activity was weakened along with the learning process. The results indicate that spatial learning correlated with the decreased gamma activity in Hp and hippocampal neural patterns of pigeons were modulated by goal-directed behavior.

[1]  S. Mizumori,et al.  Neural systems analysis of decision making during goal-directed navigation , 2012, Progress in Neurobiology.

[2]  Verner P Bingman,et al.  Avian hippocampal role in space and content memory , 2009, The European journal of neuroscience.

[3]  C. Barry,et al.  The Role of Hippocampal Replay in Memory and Planning , 2018, Current Biology.

[4]  K. Amunts,et al.  The hippocampus of birds in a view of evolutionary connectomics , 2019, Cortex.

[5]  B. Balleine,et al.  Goal-directed instrumental action: contingency and incentive learning and their cortical substrates , 1998, Neuropharmacology.

[6]  R. Kesner,et al.  Impaired place learning and unimpaired cue learning in hippocampal-lesioned pigeons. , 1997, Behavioral neuroscience.

[7]  Alexander S. Ecker,et al.  Comparing the Feature Selectivity of the Gamma-Band of the Local Field Potential and the Underlying Spiking Activity in Primate Visual Cortex , 2008, Frontiers in systems neuroscience.

[8]  Yan Chen,et al.  Decoding Pigeon Behavior Outcomes Using Functional Connections among Local Field Potentials , 2018, Comput. Intell. Neurosci..

[9]  Elizabeth R. Chrastil,et al.  Active and passive contributions to spatial learning , 2011, Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

[10]  Larry R Squire,et al.  Hippocampus and remote spatial memory in rats , 2005, Hippocampus.

[11]  Xinyu Liu,et al.  Goal-directed behavior elevates gamma oscillations in nidopallium caudolaterale of pigeon , 2018, Brain Research Bulletin.

[12]  I. Whishaw.  Place Learning in Hippocampal Rats and the Path Integration Hypothesis , 1998, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[13]  Ingrid Daubechies,et al.  The wavelet transform, time-frequency localization and signal analysis , 1990, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[14]  L. Colgin,et al.  Slow and Fast Gamma Rhythms Coordinate Different Spatial Coding Modes in Hippocampal Place Cells , 2014, Neuron.

[15]  H. Karten,et al.  A stereotaxic atlas of the brain of the pigeon (Columba livia) , 1967 .