Systems Neuroscience

Laboratory of Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience

Susumu Takahashi, Ph.D.

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It is generally accepted that the functioning of cognition and behavior such as listening, touching, moving, memorizing and remembering is realized by transmitting neuronal activity in the brain – a sophisticated and complex network consisting of several billions of neurons. However, the fundamental principle remains unclear. The aim of our laboratory is to unravel how the brain realizes the cognition and behavior. Since we believe that a multi-faceted approach is a prerequisite for realizing our aim, we employ five multidisciplinary methodologies: 1) large-scale multi-unit recording across the hippocampal formation, cortex and basal ganglia of freely behaving mice and rats, 2) optogenetics with transgenic animals, 3) behavior analysis based on operant conditioning, 4) statistical analyses for neuronal recordings based on machine learning, 5) automatic recording/stimulation devices based on real-time processing.
For instance, we preferentially focus on place cells, i.e., hippocampal pyramidal cells maximally firing at a specific location. To decipher the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory of what happened at a specific place and time, we decode experienced episodic-like memory from the hippocampal place cell activity sequences. Moreover, we attempt to manipulate those memories by selectively controlling the place cell activities. On the other hand, wild animals such as seabirds sometimes traverse several hundred kilometers long journeys without landmarks. We examine the neuronal mechanisms underlying such an astounding navigation ability by comparing the place cell activity among species.

Research topics

1. Neural substrates of episodic memory encoding and retrieval
2. Neuronal mechanisms underlying spatial navigation

Selected publications

1. Azechi, H., & Takahashi, S., “vmTracking enables highly accurate multi-animal pose tracking in crowded environments”, PLoS Biology, 23(2):e3003002, 2025.
2. Tamatsu, Y., Azechi, H., Takahashi, R., Sawatani, F.,  Ide, K., Fujiyama, F., Takahashi, S., "Optogenetic activation of the VTA-hippocampal pathway facilitates rapid adaptation to changes in spatial goals”, iScience, 26, 108536, 2023.
3. Sawatani, F., Ide, K., Takahashi, S., “The neural representation of time distributed across multiple brain regions differs between implicit and explicit time demands”, Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 199, 107731, 2023.
4. Ide, K., Takahashi, S., “A Review of Neurologgers for Extracellular Recording of Neuronal Activity in the Brain of Freely Behaving Wild Animals”, Micromachines, 13(9):1529., 2022.
5. Sawatani, F., Tamatsu, Y.,  Ide, K., Azechi, H., Takahashi, S., “Utilizing a Reconfigurable Maze System to Enhance the Reproducibility of Spatial Navigation Tests in Rodents”, Journal of Visualized Experiments, 190, e64754, 2022.
6. Takahashi, S., Hombe, T., Matsumoto, S., Ide, K., Yoda, K., “Head direction cells in a migratory bird prefer north”, Science Advances, 8, eabl6848, 2022. 
7. Maekawa, T., Higashide, D., Hara, T., Matsumura, K., Ide, K., Miyatake, T., Kimura, K., Takahashi, S., "Cross-species Behavior Analysis with Attention-based Domain-adversarial Deep Neural Networks", Nature Communications, 12, 5519, 2021.   
8. Takahashi, S. Hombe, T., Takahashi, R., Ide K., Okamoto S., Yoda, K., Kitagawa, T., Makiguchi, Y., "Wireless logging of extracellular neuronal activity in the telencephalon of free-swimming salmonids", Animal Biotelemetry, 9:9, 2021.
9. Maekawa T, Ohara K, Zhang Y, Fukutomi M, Matsumoto S, Matsumura K, Shidara H, Yamazaki S, Fujisawa R, Ide K, Nagaya N, Yamazaki K, Koike S, Miyatake T, Kimura K, Ogawa H, Takahashi S, Yoda K, "Deep Learning-assisted Comparative Analysis of Animal Trajectories with DeepHL", Nature Communications, 11, 5316, 2020.
10. Hoshino, S., Takahashi, R, Mieno, K., Tamatsu, Y., Azechi, H., Ide, K., Takahashi, S., "The reconfigurable maze provides flexible, scalable, reproducible and repeatable tests", iScience, Volume 23, Issue 1, 2020.

Members

Susumu Takahashi, Ph.D. (Principal investigator, Professor)
Kaoru Ide, Ph.D. (Research assistant professor)
Hirotsugu Azechi, Ph.D. (Research assistant professor)

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Takahashi Lab

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