Projecting neurons from lateral entorhinal cortex to basolateral amygdala mediate the encoding of incidental odor-taste associations

Daily choices are determined by prior direct or indirect associations between low-salience cues and reinforcers. In this study, we used a mouse odor-taste sensory preconditioning task combined with genetic, intersectional and chemogenetic approaches to identify a novel brain circuit involved in mediated learning. We found that neuronal projections from the lateral entorhinal cortex to the basolateral amygdala are engaged during low-salience stimuli associations, which is essential for mediated learning formation.