# What is the nature of cache memory in Parids? A comment on Chettih et al. 2024

## TL;DR

This paper discusses how birds remember where they stored food, suggesting they use a memory process triggered during retrieval rather than beforehand.

## Contribution

The paper clarifies that cache memory in Parids is activated during retrieval, supporting cued recall over free recall.

## Key findings

- Cache-related neural activity is reactivated during retrieval, not before.
- The reactivated 'bar code' is similar to the one formed when the cache was created.
- The findings support cued recall as the mechanism for remembering cache locations.

## Abstract

Recent findings by Chettih et al. (Cell 187: 1922–1935, 2024) from electrophysiological recordings in the hippocampus of black-capped chickadees shed light on the debate about how food-hoarding Parids may remember their cache sites. When birds retrieve caches, a “bar code” is reactivated, which is very similar to the code generated when the same cache was made. The current evidence suggests that this bar code is only triggered after the bird starts to retrieve the cache, and not in anticipation. This finding is more consistent with cued recall than with free recall of cache locations.