Selective reactivation of value- and place-dependent information during sharp-wave ripples in the intermediate and dorsal hippocampus | Science Advances

Reactivating place cells during sharp-wave ripples in the hippocampus is important for memory consolidation. However, whether hippocampal reactivation is affected by the values of events experienced by the animal is largely unknown. Here, we investigated whether place cells in the dorsal (dHP) and intermediate hippocampus (iHP) of rats are differentially reactivated depending on the value associated with a place during the learning of places associated with higher-value rewards in a T-maze. Place cells in the iHP representing the high-value location were reactivated significantly more frequently than those representing the low-value location, characteristics not observed in the dHP. In contrast, the activities of place cells in the dHP coding the routes leading to high-value locations were replayed more than those in the iHP. Our findings suggest that value-based differential reactivation patterns along the septotemporal axis of the hippocampus may play essential roles in optimizing goal-directed spatial learning for maximal reward.