Fig. 5: Encoding of location-specific information but not object identity by object exploration-dependent place cells (oePCs).

a Gaussian-smoothed activity maps of three example oePCs before and after the object was moved with different distances. b Changes in oePC properties after the object was moved with different distances, including the control (n = 75, gray), 0.5 (n = 9, dark blue), 1 (n = 20, light blue), 2 (n = 8, orange), and 4 cm (n = 13, red). Statistics of oePC properties for each group, including activity changes (absolute normalized values, Δactivity), changes in the center of mass (ΔCOM), spatial correlations (determined by Kruskal-Wallis H Test followed by a multiple comparison test), remaining place fields (PF), and difference index (DI) before versus after object movement (two-sided Paired Wilcoxon signed rank test, n = 6 mice). c Lap-average activity of oePCs during exploration (Expl.) and non-exploration (Non-expl.) laps and activity difference during the mice’s visits to the same box with the familiar object replaced with a novel object at the same location. Neuronal activity was normalized to the maximum activity of each neuron and sorted by place field centers according to angular position across mice. d Spatial property changes in oePCs during object replacement (red) compared to the control condition (gray), including spatial correlation (P = 0.206, two-sided, two-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test); ΔCOM (P = 0.717, Two-sided Mann-Whitney U Test), and the difference index (P = 0.293, two-sided Wilcoxon signed rank test; n = 36 in 6 mice). *** for P < 0.001, ** for P < 0.01, * for P < 0.05, and NS for no significance. Box plots show the median (horizontal line), 25–75% range (box) and outliers (whiskers). Data and statistical analyses are reported in the Source Data file.