Representation of space in the hippocampus of echolocating bats
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Bats have a well developed spatial memory. I am studying how spatial information is encoded
in the activity of hippocampal neurons in freely moving echolocating bats of the species
Eptesicus fuscus (big brown bats): Are there "place cells" like in rodent hippocampus,
or perhaps "spatial view cells" like some researchers reported for monkey hippocampus?
Is there a theta rhythm in freely-moving bats, analogous to the hippocampal theta rhythm
in rodents? To address these questions, I am using a 4-tetrode microdrive and a multi-channel
neurophysiology and video-tracking system (Neuralynx) to record the activity of well-isolated
neurons in the CA1 area of bat hippocampus, while the bats perform a "mealworm chasing"
task in an open-field arena.
For more details, see my webpage:
http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/batlab/people/nachum.htm