Mate Sumegi

eLife Assessment This fundamental study provides new insights into the plasticity mechanisms underlying the formation of spatial maps in the hippocampus. Supported by a large and comprehensive dataset, the evidence is convincing. This study will be of interest to neuroscientists focusing on spatial navigation, learning, and memory.

Abstract Every explored environment is represented in the hippocampus by the activity of distinct populations of pyramidal cells (PCs) that typically fire at specific locations called their place fields (PFs). PFs are constantly born even in familiar surroundings (during representational drift), and many rapidly emerge when the animal explores a new or altered environment (during global or partial remapping).