Organization of cell assemblies that code temporal sequences in a hippocampal CA3-CA1 model

Experimental evidences suggest involvement of the hippocampus in temporal sequence learning. Taking physiological differences between the hippocampal CA3 and CA1 regions into account, we propose a mechanism of temporal sequence encoding. Input signals that mimicked the activity of the rat entorhinal cortex during animal's spatial behavior were applied to a model hippocampal CA3-CA1 network. Following an organization of spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous activity in the CA3 region, Schaffer collateral synaptic conductances were modified eventually forming a distinct spatial pattern. As a result, a CA1 pyramidal cell assembly was tuned to a specific sequence of input signals.