美国加州大学伯克利分校Michael M. Yartsev研究团队揭示自由飞行蝙蝠海马体的非局部时空表现。相关论文于2021年7月9日发表在《科学》杂志上。

通过在自由飞行的蝙蝠中使用无线电生理记录，研究人员证明CA1区域的神经活动主要编码离蝙蝠当前位置最远数米的非局部空间信息。这种时空表示在时间上向前和向后延伸，重点是未来的位置，并且可以在随机探索和目标导向导航中找到。因此，位置的表示沿着连续体延伸，每个时刻都包含有关过去、现在和未来的信息，并且这可能提供了沿着自我选择和记住的路径导航的一种关键机制。

据悉，导航发生在空间和时间的连续体中。众所周知，海马体可以编码移动动物的直接位置。然而，主动导航，尤其是在高速时，可能需要表示超出当前时刻的导航信息。

附：英文原文

Title: Nonlocal spatiotemporal representation in the hippocampus of freely flying bats

Author: Nicholas M. Dotson, Michael M. Yartsev

Issue&Volume: 2021/07/09

Abstract: Navigation occurs through a continuum of space and time. The hippocampus is known to encode the immediate position of moving animals. However, active navigation, especially at high speeds, may require representing navigational information beyond the present moment. Using wireless electrophysiological recordings in freely flying bats, we demonstrate that neural activity in area CA1 predominantly encodes nonlocal spatial information up to meters away from the bat’s present position. This spatiotemporal representation extends both forward and backward in time, with an emphasis on future locations, and is found during both random exploration and goal-directed navigation. The representation of position thus extends along a continuum, with each moment containing information about past, present, and future, and may provide a key mechanism for navigating along self-selected and remembered paths.

DOI: 10.1126/science.abg1278

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/373/6551/242