dCA1 cells encode and update contextual place preference

Pyramidal cells in the dorsal hippocampus (dCA1) are excitatory neurons modulated by environmental cues. While a population of dCA1 cells encodes spatial location, other groups are activated by reward probability and encounters. Since “rewards” are predicted at “locations,” we sought to determine how spatiotemporal coding patterns in the dCA1 resolve contextual preference and subsequent change in preference that is driven by reward encounters. Specifically, we examined these encoding patterns in