[{"abstract":[{"text":"Making decisions requires flexibly adapting to changing environments, a process that\r\ndepends on accurately interpreting current contingencies and integrating them with\r\npast experience. Two brain regions are particularly critical for this process, the medial\r\nprefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus. Using contextual information from the\r\nhippocampus, the mPFC selects relevant cognitive frameworks and suppresses\r\nirrelevant ones to guide appropriate actions. Several studies have shown that some\r\nmPFC pyramidal neurons become spatially tuned when spatial information is required\r\nto guide goal-directed behavior. However, the role of prefrontal spatial representations\r\nin learning and decision making is not well understood. This work aims to characterize\r\nthe role of mPFC spatial tuning in supporting a contextual association task. Rats were\r\ntrained to learn two cue–location associations on a radial arm maze over multiple days,\r\nwhile we simultaneously recorded from dorsal CA1 of the hippocampus and the\r\nprelimbic area of the mPFC. We describe a subset of spatially tuned hippocampal and\r\nprefrontal pyramidal neurons that “flicker” between multiple spatial representations on\r\ndifferent trials, suggesting dynamic, context-dependent coding. This flickering may\r\nprovide a substrate for how the network reorganizes in response to task demands,\r\nlikely by enabling the flexible evaluation of competing representations. ","lang":"eng"}],"doi":"10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"PreCl"},{"_id":"Bio"},{"_id":"LifeSc"},{"_id":"M-Shop"}],"type":"dissertation","alternative_title":["ISTA Thesis"],"publication_identifier":{"issn":["2663-337X"],"isbn":["978-3-99078-056-5"]},"file_date_updated":"2025-09-30T22:30:02Z","corr_author":"1","publication_status":"published","date_updated":"2025-10-08T12:53:17Z","_id":"19456","degree_awarded":"PhD","page":"96","publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","title":"The role of prefrontal spatial coding in supporting a contextual association task","status":"public","year":"2025","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"supervisor":[{"id":"3FA14672-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","last_name":"Csicsvari","orcid":"0000-0002-5193-4036","first_name":"Jozsef L","full_name":"Csicsvari, Jozsef L"}],"date_published":"2025-02-18T00:00:00Z","ddc":["612"],"has_accepted_license":"1","citation":{"ieee":"A. D. Cumpelik, “The role of prefrontal spatial coding in supporting a contextual association task,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.","ista":"Cumpelik AD. 2025. The role of prefrontal spatial coding in supporting a contextual association task. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.","ama":"Cumpelik AD. The role of prefrontal spatial coding in supporting a contextual association task. 2025. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456</a>","apa":"Cumpelik, A. D. (2025). <i>The role of prefrontal spatial coding in supporting a contextual association task</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456</a>","mla":"Cumpelik, Andrea D. <i>The Role of Prefrontal Spatial Coding in Supporting a Contextual Association Task</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456</a>.","short":"A.D. Cumpelik, The Role of Prefrontal Spatial Coding in Supporting a Contextual Association Task, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025.","chicago":"Cumpelik, Andrea D. “The Role of Prefrontal Spatial Coding in Supporting a Contextual Association Task.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-19456</a>."},"date_created":"2025-03-25T11:22:38Z","oa":1,"department":[{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"JoCs"}],"file":[{"file_size":11869040,"date_created":"2025-03-25T11:07:55Z","date_updated":"2025-09-30T22:30:02Z","file_name":"2025_Thesis_Cumpelik_corrections_PDFA.pdf","content_type":"application/pdf","access_level":"open_access","checksum":"1c7573303d8e5f6da3eb03d59055390f","creator":"acumpeli","embargo":"2025-09-30","file_id":"19457","relation":"main_file"},{"file_size":20436467,"file_name":"2025_Thesis_Cumpelik_corrections.docx","date_updated":"2025-09-30T22:30:02Z","date_created":"2025-03-25T11:08:05Z","access_level":"closed","content_type":"application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document","creator":"acumpeli","embargo_to":"open_access","checksum":"b93265ebd9a53f7a14100d0d48b4ff5b","file_id":"19458","relation":"source_file"}],"oa_version":"Published Version","OA_embargo":"6 months","article_processing_charge":"No","day":"18","author":[{"full_name":"Cumpelik, Andrea D","first_name":"Andrea D","id":"3F158B32-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0003-1727-6612","last_name":"Cumpelik"}],"user_id":"8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9","month":"02","keyword":["neuroscience","decision making","learning","cognitive flexibility","medial prefrontal cortex","hippocampus","electrophysiology"]}]