Encoding of long-term associations through neural unitization in the human medial temporal lobe

Rey, Hernan G.; De Falco, Emanuela; Ison, Matias J.; Valentin, Antonio; Alarcon, Gonzalo; Selway, Richard; Richardson, Mark P.; Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo

Abstract

© 2018, The Author(s). 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.

Citation

Rey, H. G., De Falco, E., Ison, M. J., Valentin, A., Alarcon, G., Selway, R., …Quian Quiroga, R. (2018). Encoding of long-term associations through neural unitization in the human medial temporal lobe. Nature Communications, 9(1), Article 4372. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06870-2

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 29, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Oct 22, 2018
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2018
• Deposit Date: Dec 4, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 4, 2018
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 9
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 4372
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-06870-2
• Keywords: General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; General Physics and Astronomy; General Chemistry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1363240
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06870-2
• Contract Date: Dec 4, 2018