Psychology 530: Neural models of memory function.
Spring 2011, Monday 2 pm, Rm. 109, 2 Cummington St.
Dr. Michael Hasselmo, 2 Cummington St. Rm. 105E, Tel: 353-1397, Email: hasselmo@bu.edu (e-mail is preferred)
Office Hours: Mon. after class, Tues. 12-2 pm.  http://www.bu.edu/hasselmo/ 
Class web page on blackboard.bu.edu 11sprgcasps530_a1  

GRADING:
ASSIGNMENTS				30% of grade
QUIZZES on readings and assignments	20% of grade
EXAM 	         				40% of grade
RESEARCH PROJECT     		10% of grade

ASSIGNMENTS will have mathematical problems as well as simulation exercises in the MATLAB simulation package illustrating basic features of neuronal activity, sequence retrieval, and memory guided behavior.  NOTE: Turn in as hard copy, not electronic copy.
QUIZZES will test knowledge on topics from the reading or after the assignments are turned in quizzes will test the knowledge of materials from the assignments. Quizzes will be announced in class the week before the quiz (i.e. quizzes will not be a surprise unless you miss an announcement in class).
EXAM will contain questions on details of neural models of episodic memory, including basic computations involved in associative memories and self-organization. Note that this is a major portion of the course grade
RESEARCH PROJECT will be a 3-4 page description in Microsoft Word or Powerpoint of a specific model example presented at a level accessible to a freshman or sophomore undergraduate (more detail at end of syllabus).

Description of course
After taking this course, students should be able to demonstrate solid understanding of computational models of neurobiological mechanisms for episodic memory and memory guided behavior, with a particular emphasis on cellular and circuit models of the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and related cortical structures.  Students should master basic neural network models and example simulations of cortical function.
READINGS: 
Most readings will be from a book:
Hasselmo, M.E. (2012) How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Some readings can be downloaded from the Blackboard web site at: blackboard.bu.edu. 
Reading assignments might change during the course.

Jan. 24 - Introduction
Course logistics.  Overview of topics and readings covered in the course.

Jan. 31 (A) – Behavioral dynamics of episodic memory.  Anatomy of episodic memory.  
Definition and examples of episodic memory as associations of events and spatiotemporal trajectories.  Drug and lesion studies indicating specific anatomical structures.  Overview of network and cellular physiological properties.
Reading for Jan. 31: Hasselmo, M.E. (2011) How We Remember: Brain Mechanisms of Episodic Memory. MIT Press: Cambridge, MA.
Read first four chapters: 
1.	Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 1 - Behavioral dynamics of episodic memory
2.	Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 2 - Neural dynamics of episodic memory. 
3.	Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 3 - Coding of space and time for episodic memory.
4.	Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 4 - Encoding and retrieval of episodic trajectories.
ASSIGNMENT #1 – Due Jan. 31:  Report on reading. For each chapter, give the page number and paragraph number of the paragraph that you found the most confusing or difficult to understand. Describe the nature of your confusion and what information is needed for you to better understand that paragraph.
EXTRA CREDIT: Do the same exercise for the last three chapters of the manuscript.

Feb. 7  (B) – Neural dynamics underlying memory.   Oscillations and persistent spiking. 
Intrinsic properties of neurons, including passive membrane properties, spiking mechanisms, persistent spiking, spike frequency accommodation, and intrinsic subthreshold membrane potential oscillations.
Reading for Feb. 7: 
Hasselmo (2012) - Appendix: Mathematical models of memory, pp. 196-234.  
Hasselmo (2012)  – Chapter 2 - Neural Dynamics of Episodic memory.
ASSIGNMENT #2 – Due Feb. 7: Report on reading. For the appendix, give the page number and location on the page where you felt you could not figure out individual equations from the information provided. Try to express what additional information you would need for understanding the equation. 

Feb. 14 ( C) –Physiology and modeling of entorhinal cortex grid cells.  Theta phase precession of grid cells.
Reading for Feb. 14: 
Hasselmo (2012) 3 – Chapter 3 - Coding of space and time for episodic memory. 
Hasselmo (2012) Appendix: Oscillations and interference pp 201-207.  Grid cell model pp. 207-214.  
HaftingMoserMoser2005.pdf  Hafting T, Fyhn M, Molden S, Moser MB, Moser EI. (2005) Microstructure of a spatial map in the entorhinal cortex. Nature. 436:801-6.
BurgessBarryOKeefe2007.pdf   Burgess, N., Barry, C. & O'Keefe, J. (2007) An oscillatory interference model of grid cell firing. Hippocampus, 17, 801-812.

Feb. 22 (D) - NOTE - TUESDAY class (due to holiday on Monday Feb. 21) 
Synaptic properties of neurons as mechanisms of memory function. 
BiPooAnnReview.pdf
Bi G, Poo M (2001) Synaptic modification by correlated activity: Hebb's postulate revisited. Annu Rev Neurosci. 24:139-66.

START ASSIGNMENT #3:
Assignment #3 will be available at blackboard.bu.edu 

Feb. 28 (E) - Grid cells to place cells. Self-organization of entorhinal input to hippocampus. 
Basic network models of associations formed in memory.  Learning rule (outer product) for computing synaptic change.  Activation rule for computing spread of activity.  
Reading for Feb 28: 
Hasselmo (2012) 5.pdf – Chapter 5 - Linking events and episodes.
Appendix – Elements of episodic memory model, pp 196-201. Associative memory models, pp 214-217.  Implementation of episodic memory models, pp. 218-225.
FyhnMoserMoser2007.pdf   Fyhn, M., Hafting, T., Treves, A., Moser, M.B. & Moser, E.I. (2007) Hippocampal remapping and grid realignment in entorhinal cortex. Nature, 446, 190-194

******* Wed. Mar. 2 – ASSIGNMENT #3 DUE  ********
MATLAB simulations.  Exercises on self-organization. Turn in as hard copy to Hasselmo office Rm. 105E.

March 7 (F) - Linking episodes to events.  Formation of associations in memory  
Function of hippocampal subregions.  Linear associative memory.  Attractor dynamics with excitation and inhibition.
Reading for Mar. 7: 
Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 5 - Linking events and episodes.
Appendix – Elements of episodic memory model, Pages 196-201. Associative memory models, 214-217.

March 14 - NO CLASS - SPRING BREAK

START ASSIGNMENT #4: PDF will be available at blackboard.bu.edu

March 21 (G) - Encoding and retrieval dynamics, Acetylcholine and theta rhythm.
Reading for Mar 21: 
Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 6 - Drug effects on the dynamics of encoding and retrieval.
Appendix: Acetylcholine prevents interference during encoding, pp. 226-228. Separation of encoding and retrieval on phases of theta rhythm, pp. 228-230.

******* Thurs. Mar 24 – ASSIGNMENT #4 DUE  ********
Turn in as hard copy to Hasselmo office Room 105E.

March 28 (H) –Sequence encoding and context-dependent activity. 
Reading for Mar 28: 
Hasselmo (2012) – Chapter 7 - Dynamics of memory guided behavior.
LismanNeuron.pdf
Lisman, J.E. (1999) Relating Hippocampal Circuitry to Function: Recall of Memory Sequences by Reciprocal Dentate–CA3 Interactions  Neuron, 22, 233–242

April 4 (I) - Goal-directed behavior and Reinforcement learning theory 
Reading for April 4:
FosterMorrisDayan.pdf
Foster D.J., Morris R.G.M. and Dayan P. (2000) A model of hippocampally dependent navigation, using the temporal difference learning rule. Hippocampus 10: 1-16.

****** MONDAY, April 11 -  MID-TERM EXAM IN CLASS *********
April 11 – Mid-term in class.  

April 21 (J) – Note THURSDAY class (due to holiday on Monday April 18) 
Reading for April 21:
Modeling of traditional human verbal memory tasks.
OreillyNormanMcClelland98.pdf
O'Reilly, R. C., Norman, K. A., & McClelland, J. L. (1998). A hippocampal model of recognition memory. In M. I. Jordan, M. J. Kearns, & S. A. Solla (Eds.), Advances in Neural Information Processing  Systems 10.  Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
HasselmoMcClelland.pdf
Hasselmo, M.E. and McClelland, J.L. (1999) Neural models of memory.  Curr. Opinion Neurobiol. 9: 184-188.

April 25 (K) - Last class meeting - Working memory function. 
Reading for April 25:
DurstewitzSeamans.pdf
Durstewitz D, Seamans JK, Sejnowski TJ.  (2000) Dopamine-mediated stabilization of delay-period activity in a network model of prefrontal cortex.  J Neurophysiol  83(3):1733-50
FransenAlonsoHasselmo.pdf
Fransen, E., Alonso, A.A. and Hasselmo, M.E. (2002) Simulations of the role of the muscarinic-activated calcium-sensitive non-specific cation current I(NCM) in entorhinal neuronal activity during delayed matching tasks.  J. Neurosci. 22(3):1081-1097.

****** April 27 – RESEARCH PROJECT DUE *************
RESEARCH PROJECT will be a 2-3 page description in Microsoft Word or Powerpoint of a specific model example presented at a level accessible to a freshman or sophomore undergraduate. The example should NOT be a model already described in class lecture or book. Simulations in MATLAB or simple mathematical computations are appropriate.  The mathematical descriptions should focus on providing simple examples of computations as done in the handouts in the class. Simple examples of computations are more valuable than inserted figures or equations without examples.  Possible topics include: single neuron self-sustained spiking, attractor dynamics in threshold linear systems, sequence encoding and retrieval, effect of theta rhythm oscillations on associative memory, features of cholinergic modulation of associative memory not covered in class, self-organization of feature detectors, formation of topographic maps, membrane potential dynamics.  The project report should be created in Microsoft Powerpoint or Microsoft Word.  They should be less than four pages long, have 3-4 citations and have similar format to example presented in class. Look at the handouts and see that they have many example computations, but not many figures.  If you do use a figure, you must explicitly cite the source of the figure right next to the figure.  Do not use footnotes, use citations with bibliography at end of paper.

Legal statement from B.U.: The syllabus, course descriptions, handouts created for this course, and all class lectures are copyrighted by Boston University and myself.  Except with respect to enrolled students as set forth below, the materials and  lectures may not be reproduced in any form or otherwise copied, displayed or distributed, nor should works derived from them be reproduced, copied, displayed or distributed without my written permission.  Infringement of the copyright in these materials, including any sale or commercial use of notes, summaries, outlines or other reproductions of lectures, constitutes a violation of the copyright laws and is prohibited.  Students enrolled in the course are allowed to share with other enrolled students  course materials, notes, and other writings based on the  course materials and lectures, but may not do so on a commercial basis or otherwise for payment of any kind. Please note in particular that selling or buying class notes, lecture notes or summaries, or similar materials both violates copyright and interferes with the academic mission of the College, and is therefore prohibited in this class and will be considered a violation of the student code of responsibility that is subject to academic sanctions.