Selmaan N. Chettih

Neuronal computations arise from the coordination of neural activity across a wide range of spatiotemporal scales, from precisely timed action potentials in local circuits1,2,3,4,5,6 to coordinated fluctuations of neuronal activity over multiple brain areas.7,8,9,10 This is particularly the case during spontaneous activity such as sleep, when computational functions must be carried out by internally organized activity patterns that constrain and coordinate neuronal spiking across...

Highlights • High-density hippocampal recordings in food-caching chickadees • Each cache is represented by a unique, sparse pattern of activity (“barcode”) • Barcodes are distinct from and orthogonal to the conventional, smooth place code • Barcodes reactivate during subsequent retrievals and could encode episodic memories Summary The hippocampus is critical for episodic memory.