@elduvelle_neuro so if reward is acting as localization cue, maybe it’s not exactly the same kind of cue as other landmarks? Maybe subject to different types of inputs/plasticity? 🤷‍♀️

@elduvelle_neuro interestingly though, the proportion of place cells devoted to the reward-relative sequences increases across days of experience, whereas the canonical place cells (what we call “track-relative”) maintain their density near the ends of the track and actually become sparser away from the ends where the rewards are. These distinct responses to the salient cues (track ends vs reward) seem related to work by Sato et al. showing different dynamics around visual landmarks vs rewards

Thanks @elduvelle_neuro! That’s a very interesting point. Our results are certainly consistent with the reward location acting as a localization cue, and I’m not sure if our experiment could dissociate that interpretation from any other (have to think about it more). The “shape” of the sequences that we see — almost a symmetrical density around the start of the reward zone but shifted slightly after — does seem consistent with the way place cells aggregate around other landmarks

@SussilloDavid I’m so sad to hear this. What a devastating loss for our community. My heart goes out to you and everyone close to him 💔