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Michael E Hasselmo

Publications and source records attributed to Michael E Hasselmo.

40 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Using connectionist models to guide assessment of psychological disorder.

Connectionist models are introduced as promising tools for understanding the nature of psychological disorders and guiding their assessment. Specifically, ways in which connectionist models can guide the following aspects of the assessment process are described: understanding what constructs are relevant to assess, designing approaches to assessing these constructs, and understanding individual differences in data from assessments. Two extended examples are given based on the authors' research on cognitive aspects of depression and Alzheimer's disease.

Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted↗

A model of STDP based on spatially and temporally local information: derivation and combination with gated decay.

Temporal relationships between neuronal firing and plasticity have received significant attention in recent decades. Neurophysiological studies have shown the phenomenon of spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP). Various models were suggested to implement an STDP-like learning rule in artificial networks based on spiking neuronal representations. The rule presented here was developed under three constraints. First, it only depends on the information that is available at the synapse at the time of synaptic modification. Second, it naturally follows from neurophysiological and psychological research starting with Hebb's postulate [D. Hebb. (1949). The organization of behavior. Wiley, New York]. Third, it is simple, computationally cheap and its parameters are straightforward to determine. This rule is further extended by addition of four different types of gating derived from conventionally used types of gated decay in learning rules for continuous firing rate neural networks. The results show that the advantages of using these gatings are transferred to the new rule without sacrificing its dependency on spike-timing.

Algorithms↗

Neuromodulation, theta rhythm and rat spatial navigation.

Cholinergic and GABAergic innervation of the hippocampus plays an important role in human memory function and rat spatial navigation. Drugs which block acetylcholine receptors or enhance GABA receptor activation cause striking impairments in the encoding of new information. Lesions of the cholinergic innervation of the hippocampus reduce the amplitude of hippocampal theta rhythm and cause impairments in spatial navigation tasks, including the Morris water maze, eight-arm radial maze, spatial reversal and delayed alternation. Here, we review previous work on the role of cholinergic modulation in memory function, and we present a new model of the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex describing the interaction of these regions for goal-directed spatial navigation in behavioral tasks. These mechanisms require separate functional phases for: (1) encoding of pathways without interference from retrieval, and (2) retrieval of pathways for guiding selection of the next movement. We present analysis exploring how phasic changes in physiological variables during hippocampal theta rhythm could provide these different phases and enhance spatial navigation function.

Animals↗

Modeling goal-directed spatial navigation in the rat based on physiological data from the hippocampal formation.

We investigated the importance of hippocampal theta oscillations and the significance of phase differences of theta modulation in the cortical regions that are involved in goal-directed spatial navigation. Our models used representations of entorhinal cortex layer III (ECIII), hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC) to guide movements of a virtual rat in a virtual environment. The model encoded representations of the environment through long-term potentiation of excitatory recurrent connections between sequentially spiking place cells in ECIII and CA3. This encoding required buffering of place cell activity, which was achieved by a short-term memory (STM) in EC that was regulated by theta modulation and allowed synchronized reactivation with encoding phases in ECIII and CA3. Inhibition at a specific theta phase deactivated the oldest item in the buffer when new input was presented to a full STM buffer. A 180 degrees phase difference separated retrieval and encoding in ECIII and CA3, which enabled us to simulate data on theta phase precession of place cells. Retrieval of known paths was elicited in ECIII by input at the retrieval phase from PFC working memory for goal location, requiring strict theta phase relationships with PFC. Known locations adjacent to the virtual rat were retrieved in CA3. Together, input from ECIII and CA3 activated predictive spiking in cells in CA1 for the next desired place on a shortest path to a goal. Consistent with data, place cell activity in CA1 and CA3 showed smaller place fields than in ECIII.

Action Potentials↗