A neural network model of the hippocampus with theta phase precession for object-place memory

We showed that phase coding of behavioral temporal sequences in the form of theta phase precession has high advantage for the memory storage in the hippocampus. In this paper the neural dynamics of phase coding is applied to object-place memory, a typical hippocampus dependent memory in human. We assume that visual input consists of central and peripheral structures in visual field which encode object and scene respectively. The temporal sequence these inputs generated by saccadic eye movement is sent to our hippocampal network. Results of our computer experiments demonstrate that object-place memory can be instantaneously stored by phase precession dynamics. It is suggested that the phase precession in rat hippocampus could be generalized as a fundamental mechanism in human hippocampal memory.