AI Article Synopsis
- The hippocampus helps combine different pieces of information to support decision-making in uncertain situations, known as hidden state inference.
- This study found that the ventral hippocampus is crucial for mice to perform well in a task that requires them to infer hidden states when choosing between two options.
- The research highlights how hippocampal activity influences the differentiation of contexts and dopamine signaling, which are important for making optimized decisions.
Article Abstract
The ability to use subjective, latent contextual representations to influence decision-making is crucial for everyday life. The hippocampus is hypothesized to bind together otherwise abstract combinations of stimuli to represent such latent contexts, to support the process of hidden state inference. Yet evidence for a role of the hippocampus in hidden state inference remains limited. We found that the ventral hippocampus is required for mice to perform hidden state inference during a two-armed bandit task. Hippocampal neurons differentiate the two abstract contexts required for this strategy in a manner similar to the differentiation of spatial locations, and their activity is essential for appropriate dopamine dynamics. These findings offer insight into how latent contextual information is used to optimize decisions, and they emphasize a key role for the hippocampus in hidden state inference.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adq5874 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!