Rapid encoding of new memories by individual neurons in the human brain

Ison, Matias; Rodrigo Quian, Quiroga; Fried, Itzhak

Abstract

The creation of memories about real-life episodes requires rapid neuronal changes that may appear after a single occurrence of an event. How is such demand met by neurons in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), which plays a fundamental role in episodic memory formation? We recorded the activity of MTL neurons in neurosurgical patients while they learned new associations. Pairs of unrelated pictures, one of a person and another of a place, were used to construct a meaningful association modeling the episodic memory of meeting a person in a particular place. We found that a large proportion of responsive MTL neurons expanded their selectivity to encode these specific associations within a few trials: cells initially responsive to one picture started firing to the associated one but not to others. Our results provide a plausible neural substrate for the inception of associations, which are crucial for the formation of episodic memories.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 4, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 13, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 23, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0896-6273
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 87
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 220-230
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2015.06.016
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1116782
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627315005590