This thesis investigates how the broader cortical network interacts with the hippocampus, how these interactions are shaped by learning, development, and behavioural state, and whether distinct global cortical signatures underlie episodic/spatial and contextual memory. To address these questions, we combined advanced behavioural paradigms with large-scale neural recordings and computational analyses. A key prerequisite was high-temporal-precision synchronisation of behavioural and neuronal data streams, for which I developed a custom synchronisation system integrating complex datasets with millisecond accuracy. In parallel, we developed a method for correcting heartbeat artefacts in wide-field voltage imaging, enabling robust analysis of large-scale cortical signals. Applying these tools, we show that large-scale cortical activity matures gradually, shifting from small, unstructured events to organised, near-critical patterns with expanding spatial structure. During this transition, hippocampo-cortical interactions also begin to emerge. Finally, we examined learning-dependent modulation by training mice on two virtual-reality paradigms: stable spatial navigation and flexible cue-outcome associations. Both task structure and accumulated experience shaped large-scale cortical organisation during learning, with changes reflected in both behavioural performance and underlying neural dynamics. Together, the studies provide methodological advances and new empirical evidence regarding the development and functional modulation of cortical-hippocampal interactions.
Morgane Audrain was born on September 26th 1996, in Château-Thierry, France. After graduating from high school, she pursued engineering studies by attending a preparatory school specialising in Physics. After two years of preparatory school, she was admitted to ECE Paris, an engineering school where she specialised in biomedical engineering. During the final year of her Master’s degree, she completed an Erasmus programme at Radboud University in the Netherlands, where she carried out her internship and thesis project at the Donders Institute under the supervision of Prof. Francesco Battaglia. After graduating, she remained in the lab as a research assistant, contributing to several projects. In July 2020, she began her PhD under the supervision of Prof.Battaglia. Her doctoral research focused on communication between the hippocampus and the neocortex, using a combination of wide-field voltage imaging and electrophysiology in head-fixed behaving mice and in resting mouse pups.