2. Hippocampal-cortical communication
During sleep, the hippocampus is in constant dialogue with the neocortex. This communication relies on the interaction between distinct dynamic events in the two structures: slow waves and spindles in the neocortex and sharp wave-ripples (SWRs) in the hippocampus. We are interested to understand how these intrinsically-generated activity patterns self-organize, how they support information transfer between the hippocampus and neocortex, and how their interaction supports offline learning.
Research Questions
-
How do the intrinsically-generated dynamics of the hippocampal-cortical system support information flow between the two structures and between different regions of the cortex?
-
How does generative replay in the hippocampus support the creation of generalizable memories, or “schema”, in the neocortex?
Key Papers
-
Levenstein D, Buzsáki G, Rinzel J. 2019 NREM sleep in the rodent neocortex and hippocampus reflects excitable dynamics. Nature Communications. 10, 2478 (2019).
-
Swanson R, Chinigo E, Levenstein D, Vöröslakos, Mousavi N, Wang XJ, Basu J*, Buzsáki G*. 2025 Topography of bidirectional communication between hippocampal sharp wave ripples and neocortical slow oscillations. Neuron.


_edited.png)


