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Recording Single Neurons' Action Potentials from Freely Moving Pigeons Across Three Stages of Learning

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Theta-phase dependent neuronal coding during sequence learning in human single neurons.

Leila Reddy^1,2,3, Matthew W Self⁴, Benedikt Zoefel^5,6

¹Université de Toulouse, Centre de Recherche Cerveau et Cognition, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France. leila.reddy@cnrs.fr.

Nature Communications

|August 11, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Human brain activity, specifically neuronal firing timing relative to theta brain oscillations, reflects the order of items in memory. This suggests a mechanism for maintaining sequential information in the human temporal lobe.

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Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice

Optogenetic Entrainment of Hippocampal Theta Oscillations in Behaving Mice

Published on: June 29, 2018

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Memory Research

Background:

Maintaining sequential information is crucial for memory.
In rodents, hippocampal place cells use phase precession relative to theta oscillations to encode spatial sequences.
It is unknown if similar mechanisms operate in the human medial temporal lobe for non-spatial sequences.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if neuronal activity timing relative to theta oscillations encodes sequence order in the human medial temporal lobe.
To determine if the principle of phase precession observed in rodents applies to sequence memory in humans.

Main Methods:

Human participants learned a fixed sequence of visual stimuli.
Single neuron and local field potential activity were recorded using implanted electrodes.
Neuronal spike timing relative to the theta brain oscillation was analyzed.

Main Results:

Neuronal spikes for consecutive items in the learned sequence were phase-locked to distinct phases of the theta oscillation.
Spike timing showed a pattern consistent with phase precession, with spikes occurring at progressively earlier theta phases for later items in the sequence.
This effect was observed for preferred stimuli and adjacent sequence items for each recorded neuron.

Conclusions:

Neuronal phase-locking to theta oscillations encodes sequential information in the human temporal lobe.
These findings generalize rodent phase precession mechanisms to human sequence memory.
Distinct oscillatory phases may be a fundamental mechanism for maintaining order in memory across species.