Single field evolution rule governs the dynamics of representational drift in mouse hippocampal dorsal CA1 region

Abstract

How the brain reconciles dynamism with stability to balance learning and reliable memory storage has not yet been fully understood. To address the critical question, we longitudinally recorded place cells in the hippocampal dorsal CA1 region over 7 to 56 days, utilizing multiple goal-oriented navigation paradigms across various environments. We found that over 80% of place cells displayed multiple fields, undergoing complex evolution events including field disappearance, formation, and retention. Place fields from the same neuron showed limited coordination (~5%), with a preference for synchronized changes. We further uncovered the single field evolution rule: the longer a field remains active, the more likely it is to continue being active; conversely, the longer a field remains inactive, the less likely it is to recover the future fate of a place field depends on its past activity. Mathematical modeling revealed that this rule sufficiently demonstrates the growing stability of the dCA1 spatial representation at the population level.