Integrated Decoding of Local and Prospective Spatial Representations for Future Decision Prediction
The study recorded hippocampal CA1 population activity in rats performing a sequential spatial decision task in a modified T-maze, dividing the decision into initiation, running and approach phases. Local theta sequences consistently over-represented the actual choice, while prospective representations driven by choice-arm place cells shifted from predicting the actual choice during running to representing potential paths more evenly at the choice point. Integrating local and prospective features improved decoding, reaching 74.4% accuracy for future choice prediction and 78.2% for upcoming trajectory decoding.