Neural cliques are network-level memory coding units in the hippocampus. They are functionally organized in a categorical and hierarchical manner. Researchers investigating the role of neural cliques have gained insight into the process of storing memories in the brain. Research evidence suggests that memory of events is achieved not through memorization of exact event details but through recreation of select images based on cognitive significance. This process enables the brain to exhibit large storage capacity and facilitates the capacity for abstract reasoning and generalization. Research has demonstrated that real-time patterns of memory traces, retained in neural cliques, can be mathematically described, directly visualized, and dynamically deciphered.
Neural populations
Neuroscientists widely agree that neural populations convey information more effectively than individual neurons. Researchers have been able to map out distinct patterns of neural activity in the hippocampus triggered by different events. The activity patterns associated with certain startling experiences recurred spontaneously—at intervals ranging from seconds to minutes after the actual event—that showed similar trajectories, including the characteristic geometric shape, but with smaller amplitudes than their original responses.