THÈSE DE DOCTORAT

In humans, the hippocampus is a brain structure known for its role in episodic memory. In rats, this structure is mostly studied for its possible role in spatial cognition. Indeed, the hippocampus is thought to endow an animal with the ability to locate itself and learn the spatial relationships between relevant elements of the environment. The hippocampus is especially involved in flexible navigation towards a non directly visible goal. At the cellular level, the role of the hippocampus in spatial cognition is instantiated by the existence of ‘place cells’, neurons that fire when the animal i