A neuronal model for the development of schemas and their role in systems memory consolidation (B01)

• Subject Area: Experimental and Theoretical Network Neuroscience
• Term: since 2018
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 327654276

New learning of declarative memories and the consolidation of memories can be facilitated if the newly learned information is consistent with preexisting knowledge. The existence of a knowledge base or “schema” accelerates new learning and enables plasticity during acquisition to occur also outside the hippocampus. However, the neural representation underlying a schema, how it can be used to promote new learning, and the cellular/network mechanisms that allow for the development of a schema are poorly understood. Here we hypothesize that schemas are related to extra-hippocampal neural representations of memory items with particularly high population sparseness, which is theoretically highly efficient for associative learning. However, there is a lack of understanding if and to what degree high population sparseness can be achieved in neural networks. Thus, the aim of the project is to develop and test a mechanistic theory for the development of population-sparse representations of particularly significant memory items.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1315: Mechanisms and disturbances in memory consolidation: From synapses to systems
• Applicant Institution: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Richard Kempter; Professor Dr. Benjamin Lindner, since 7/2022; Professor Dr. Henning Sprekeler, until 6/2022