Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Training Synesthetic Letter-color Associations by Reading in Color
Published on: February 20, 2014
Theta-gamma coupling increases during the learning of item-context associations
Adriano B L Tort1, Robert W Komorowski, Joseph R Manns
1Edmond and Lilly Safra International Institute of Neuroscience of Natal, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, RN 59066, Natal, Brazil. adrianotort@gmail.com
Abstract:
Phase-amplitude cross-frequency coupling (CFC) between theta (4-12 Hz) and gamma (30-100 Hz) oscillations occurs frequently in the hippocampus. However, it still remains unclear whether theta-gamma coupling has any functional significance. To address this issue, we studied CFC in local field potential oscillations recorded from the CA3 region of the dorsal hippocampus of rats as they learned to associate items with their spatial context. During the course of learning, the amplitude of the low gamma subband (30-60 Hz) became more strongly modulated by theta phase in CA3, and higher levels of theta-gamma modulation were maintained throughout overtraining sessions. Furthermore, the strength of theta-gamma coupling was directly correlated with the increase in performance accuracy during learning sessions. These findings suggest a role for hippocampal theta-gamma coupling in memory recall.
Related Concept Videos
Associative Learning
Classical conditioning, also known...
Long-term Potentiation
Long-term Potentiation
Hebbian LTP
LTP can occur when presynaptic neurons...
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling
Observational Learning
¹H NMR: Long-Range Coupling
In alkenes, spin information is communicated via σ–π overlap, as seen in allylic (four-bond) and homoallylic (five-bond) couplings. These coupling interactions are stronger when the σ bond is parallel to the alkene π orbitals.

