Different network patterns can represent different modes of communication between brain regions. (a) Schematic illustrating that multiple network activity patterns mediate hippocampal-prefrontal interactions during memory-guided behavior. Theta interactions, associated with place cell activity in the hippocampus, are prominent as animals traverse locations in spatial mazes. Awake SWRs are associated with coordinated reactivation of ongoing experience in hippocampal-prefrontal ensembles. During SWRs, PFC cells with representations related to concurrently reactivated hippocampal cells are preferentially excited, while PFC cells with unrelated representations are inhibited. Gamma synchrony also mediates hippocampal-prefrontal interactions, and may play a role in organizing theta and SWR interactions. (b) A closed-loop feedback strategy that couples real-time detection to optogenetic perturbation can be used to selectively perturb communication during specific activity patterns (illustrated for SWRs).
