Alexander Eperon | Action coding in the hippocampal formation

Project Presentation (internal)

  • Date: Jan 30, 2023
  • Time: 02:30 PM - 03:00 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Alexander Eperon
  • CIMeC Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy
  • Location: MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  • Room: Lecture Hall (C101) + Zoom Meeting (hybrid mode)
  • Host: Department of Psychology
  • Contact: eperon@cbs.mpg.de
Humans effortlessly extract and re-apply the relational structure of our experiences to new problems – we are not stumped by making coffee in a new kitchen or understanding a family tree.

Prior research has attributed the underlying mechanisms of abstraction and generalisation to the hippocampal formation, which has a well-established role in mapping out both spatial and non-spatial stimuli.

Nonetheless, existing experimental evidence does not clearly answer how these “cognitive maps” may guide complex behaviours. In models of the hippocampal formation, actions map between different states – but a clear neural substrate for action remains to be identified.

Drawing on work in ecological perception, we propose that cognitive maps encode (abstract) action affordances, which can then be used to select pathways through abstract spaces. To test this, we have designed an fMRI experiment in which participants learn a series of repeating mathematical rules. Preliminary behavioural data suggests that participants can learn and generalise these rules.

Using representational similarity analysis (RSA), we will then test for a representation of affordances. Specifically, we predict that states which afford the same actions will provoke a more similar neural representation compared to states with differing affordances. Crucially, our design allows us to tease apart the role of action (defined by addition and subtraction rules) from a positional code.

In sum, we hope to elucidate how structural knowledge can guide behaviour through action coding. This should extend our understanding of how the hippocampal formation uses relational memory to guide future action.
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