Neural correlates of uncertainty during a spatial decision making task.
We expect that aspects of the hippocampal neuronal activity represent the uncertainty of the animal regarding its spatial context and hence population activity can be manipulated by changing the ambiguity of the environment.
In a series of ongoing 2P Ca2+ imaging experiments with Judit Makara, we use mice trained in virtual reality to run for water reward and analyse their hippocampal neuronal activity for signatures of encoding subjective uncertainty in a given trial.
A headfixed mouse running in a virtual corridor for water reward. Fluorescence signal recorded from a few individual hippocampal neurons. Dots indicate significant events, with the size of the dots proportional to the event amplitude. Solid line shows the fluorescent signal for those neurons showing the largest activity in this trial. Somata of CA1 pyramidal neurons genetically expressing the fluorescent Ca-indicator GCAMP6, imaged using a 2P microscope during the virtual reality experiment.