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Enriched experience increases reciprocal synaptic connectivity and coding sparsity in higher-order cortex.

Overview

Authors: Rajat Saxena1,2, Justin L. Shobe1, Aida M. Andujo1, Wing Ning1, Christelle Anaclet3, Bruce L. McNaughton1,4
ORCID iDs: Rajat Saxena, Justin L. Shobe, Aida M. Andujo, Wing Ning, Christelle Anaclet, Bruce L. McNaughton
  1. Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
  2. Present address: Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for Algorithms in the Cortex, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
  3. Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA
  4. Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4, Canada
Institutions: University of California, Irvine (United States); Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway); Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience (Norway); University of California, Davis (United States); University of Lethbridge (Canada)
Journal: Science advances, volume 12, issue 34, article eaec3893
Dates: received 17 September 2025; accepted 10 July 2026; published online 21 August 2026; in print August 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY-NC
Identifiers: DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aec3893 · PMID 42627887 · PMCID PMC13496181 · OpenAlex W4413941980
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Preprint: doi:10.1101/2025.09.01.673156
Status: code verified (how the code is found and verified)
Categories: mouse (organism), cellular / molecular (subfield)
Methods: Connectivity, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Machine learning, Preprocessing, Spectral & time-frequency, fMRI & imaging, Single-unit activity, calcium imaging
MeSH: Hippocampus*, Neocortex*, Nerve Net*, Synapses*, Animals, Male, Mice (* major topic)
Journal subjects: Neuroscience
Topic: Neural dynamics and brain function (Cognitive Neuroscience, Neuroscience), according to OpenAlex
Funding: national institutes of health (R01 NS121764, RF1 NS132041); Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (HR0011-18-2-0021)
Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 78 references in the paper

Abstract

The integration of new information during sleep reshapes cortical representations that support categorical knowledge. Autoassociative attractor network theories predict that reciprocal excitatory connections help form stable categorical attractors, but direct evidence is missing. We tested this using 10 weeks of enriched experience [environmental enrichment (ENR)] in mice as a model for knowledge accumulation and recorded single-unit activity across the hippocampus and neocortex. ENR induced significant remodeling in high-level but not low-level neocortex, with a major shift from unidirectional to bidirectional functional excitatory-excitatory connections, suggestive of increased “cell assemblies.” This was accompanied by increased inhibitory-to-excitatory connections and sparser, more orthogonal population activity during awake rest and slow-wave sleep, particularly in deep layers. Thus, ENR reorganizes cortical circuits into a symmetric, inhibition-balanced network that improves coding efficiency, supporting long-standing attractor network predictions.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Code

No file of the authors' code could be read here: it is described below, and read at its source.

figshare 31878316

License: CC-BY-4.0
State: the link answers, verified on 27 September 2026
Evidence: files inventoried
Size: 2 files
Software Heritage: not checked
Found in: “Data, code, and materials availability:”
Not found: README, license file, CITATION.cff, environment file, tests, continuous integration, documentation
Availability: 1 check, the latest on 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
  • 27 September 2026: the link answers (HTTP 200)
At the source: doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31878316

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

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Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data, code, and materials availability

All data and code needed to evaluate and reproduce the results in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supplementary Materials. All source data and code needed to reproduce the figures along with main analysis scripts are uploaded: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.31878316 (figshare). This study did not generate new materials.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY-NC), from the paper cited above.

Versions

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Version 1, 27 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 6 authors, 7 MeSH terms, 2 funders, 76 references.

Cite

This paper

Saxena, R., Shobe, J. L., Andujo, A. M., Ning, W., Anaclet, C., & McNaughton, B. L. (2026). Enriched experience increases reciprocal synaptic connectivity and coding sparsity in higher-order cortex. Science advances, 12(34), eaec3893. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec3893

BibTeX

@article{saxena2026enriched,
author = {Saxena, Rajat and Shobe, Justin L. and Andujo, Aida M. and Ning, Wing and Anaclet, Christelle and McNaughton, Bruce L.},
title = {{Enriched experience increases reciprocal synaptic connectivity and coding sparsity in higher-order cortex}},
journal = {Science advances},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
volume = {12},
number = {34},
pages = {eaec3893},
publisher = {American Association for the Advancement of Science},
issn = {2375-2548},
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aec3893},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec3893},
pmid = {42627887},
pmcid = {PMC13496181}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Saxena, Rajat
AU - Shobe, Justin L.
AU - Andujo, Aida M.
AU - Ning, Wing
AU - Anaclet, Christelle
AU - McNaughton, Bruce L.
TI - Enriched experience increases reciprocal synaptic connectivity and coding sparsity in higher-order cortex
T2 - Science advances
J2 - Sci Adv
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/21
VL - 12
IS - 34
SP - eaec3893
SN - 2375-2548
PB - American Association for the Advancement of Science
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aec3893
UR - https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aec3893
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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