Encoding of long-term associations through neural unitization in the human medial temporal lobe. Nat Commun 2018 Oct 22;9(1):4372
Date
10/24/2018Pubmed ID
30348996Pubmed Central ID
PMC6197188DOI
10.1038/s41467-018-06870-2Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85055171855 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 29 CitationsAbstract
Besides decades of research showing the role of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) in memory and the encoding of associations, the neural substrates underlying these functions remain unknown. We identified single neurons in the human MTL that responded to multiple and, in most cases, associated stimuli. We observed that most of these neurons exhibit no differences in their spike and local field potential (LFP) activity associated with the individual response-eliciting stimuli. In addition, LFP responses in the theta band preceded single neuron responses by ~70 ms, with the single trial phase providing fine tuning of the spike response onset. We postulate that the finding of similar neuronal responses to associated items provides a simple and flexible way of encoding memories in the human MTL, increasing the effective capacity for memory storage and successful retrieval.
Author List
Rey HG, De Falco E, Ison MJ, Valentin A, Alarcon G, Selway R, Richardson MP, Quian Quiroga RAuthor
Hernan Gonzalo Rey PhD Assistant Professor in the Neurosurgery department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Action PotentialsAdult
Electroencephalography
Female
Hippocampus
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Neurons
Temporal Lobe
