Part of Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 7 (NIPS 1994)
Michael Hasselmo, Eric Schnell, Joshua Berke, Edi Barkai
A model of the hippocampus is presented which forms rapid self -orga(cid:173) nized representations of input arriving via the perforant path, performs recall of previous associations in region CA3, and performs comparison of this recall with afferent input in region CA 1. This comparison drives feedback regulation of cholinergic modulation to set appropriate dynamics for learning of new representations in region CA3 and CA 1. The network responds to novel patterns with increased cholinergic mod(cid:173) ulation, allowing storage of new self-organized representations, but responds to familiar patterns with a decrease in acetylcholine, allowing recall based on previous representations. This requires selectivity of the cholinergic suppression of synaptic transmission in stratum radiatum of regions CA3 and CAl, which has been demonstrated experimentally.