Human hippocampal theta oscillations and the formation of episodic memories.

نویسندگان

  • Bradley C Lega
  • Joshua Jacobs
  • Michael Kahana
چکیده

The importance of the hippocampal theta oscillation (4-8 Hz) to memory formation has been well-established through studies in animals, prompting researchers to propose comprehensive theories of memory and learning that rely on theta oscillations for integrating information in the hippocampus and neocortex. Yet, empirical evidence for the importance of 4-8 Hz hippocampal theta oscillations to memory formation in humans is equivocal at best. To clarify this apparent interspecies discrepancy, we recorded intracranial EEG (iEEG) data from 237 hippocampal electrodes in 33 neurosurgical patients as they performed an episodic memory task. We identified two distinct patterns of hippocampal oscillations, at ∼3 and ∼8 Hz, which are at the edges of the traditional 4-8 Hz human theta band. The 3 Hz "slow-theta" oscillation exhibited higher power during successful memory encoding and was functionally linked to gamma oscillations, but similar patterns were not present for the 8 Hz "fast-theta" oscillation. For episodic memory, slow-theta oscillations in the human hippocampus appear to be analogous to the memory-related theta oscillations observed in animals. Both fast-theta and slow-theta oscillations exhibit evidence of phase synchrony with oscillations in the temporal cortex. We discuss our findings in the context of recent research on the electrophysiology of human memory and spatial navigation, and explore the implications of this result for theories of cortico-hippocampal communication.

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

منابع مشابه

Functional role of gamma and theta oscillations in episodic memory.

The primary aim of this review is to examine evidence for a functional role of gamma and theta oscillations in human episodic memory. It is proposed here that gamma and theta oscillations allow for the transient interaction between cortical structures and the hippocampus for the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories as described by the hippocampal memory indexing theory (Teyler and DiScen...

متن کامل

Slow-Theta-to-Gamma Phase-Amplitude Coupling in Human Hippocampus Supports the Formation of New Episodic Memories.

Phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) has been proposed as a neural mechanism for coordinating information processing across brain regions. Here we sought to characterize PAC in the human hippocampus, and in temporal and frontal cortices, during the formation of new episodic memories. Intracranial recordings taken as 56 neurosurgical patients studied and recalled lists of words revealed significant hi...

متن کامل

Theta band power increases in the posterior hippocampus predict successful episodic memory encoding in humans.

Functional differences in the anterior and posterior hippocampus during episodic memory processing have not been examined in human electrophysiological data. This is in spite of strong evidence for such differences in rodent data, including greater place cell specificity in the dorsal hippocampus, greater sensitivity to the aversive or motivational content of memories in ventral regions, connec...

متن کامل

Theta rhythm of navigation: link between path integration and landmark navigation, episodic and semantic memory.

Five key topics have been reverberating in hippocampal-entorhinal cortex (EC) research over the past five decades: episodic and semantic memory, path integration ("dead reckoning") and landmark ("map") navigation, and theta oscillation. We suggest that the systematic relations between single cell discharge and the activity of neuronal ensembles reflected in local field theta oscillations provid...

متن کامل

The Sync/deSync Model: How a Synchronized Hippocampus and a Desynchronized Neocortex Code Memories.

Neural oscillations are important for memory formation in the brain. The desynchronization of alpha (10 Hz) oscillations in the neocortex has been shown to predict successful memory encoding and retrieval. However, when engaging in learning, it has been found that the hippocampus synchronizes in theta (4 Hz) oscillations, and that learning is dependent on the phase of theta. This inconsistency ...

متن کامل

ذخیره در منابع من


  با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید

برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید

ثبت نام

اگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید

عنوان ژورنال:
  • Hippocampus

دوره 22 4  شماره 

صفحات  -

تاریخ انتشار 2012