Learning and memory articles from across Nature Portfolio

Using high-density electrophysiological recordings, how internally generated cell assemblies are updated by action plans to meet external goals is explored.

Neuromodulatory neural mechanisms behind contextual processing are not fully understood. Here, the authors show how spatiotemporal dynamics of locus coeruleus-norepinephrine release in dentate gyrus modulate contextual discrimination, opening new avenues for treatment of stress-related disorders.

Successful navigation relies on reciprocal transformation between different reference frames. Here the authors report egocentric representations of the angle and distance to the boundaries and center of the environment in rodent medial entorhinal cortex, previously known to contain only allocentric spatial representations.

Sequential neuronal activity patterns are tokens of neural computations. Here, the authors show that a brain region that is specialized in memory processing – the dentate gyrus – is critical for initiating and organizing sequences of neural activity.

Inhibition of CaMKII blocks short-term memory but not long-term memory of inhibitory avoidance in mice.

A new study reveals an algorithm implemented by neurons in the medial frontal cortex that is involved in flexibly mapping appropriate actions during goal-oriented behaviour to novel situations.

Reward signaling via dopamine is most commonly thought of as acting through neurons expressing either D1 or D2 dopamine receptors. Enriquez-Traba et al. show that neurons in the ventral striatum co-express D1 and D3 receptors, which they use to signal dissociable aspects of reward.

In this Journal Club, Anna Gillespie discusses how the discovery of hippocampal replay during the awake state reshaped our understanding of its role in memory function.

In this Journal club, Teruhiro Okuyama discusses the 2005 article that demonstrated the existence of ‘concept cells’ in the medial temporal lobe that show selective responses to specific individuals and play a key role in social memory.