Dataset Information

Rapid Encoding of New Memories by Individual Neurons in the Human Brain.

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.

SUBMITTER: Ison MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4509714 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Rapid Encoding of New Memories by Individual Neurons in the Human Brain.

Ison Matias J MJ Quian Quiroga Rodrigo R Fried Itzhak I

Neuron 20150701 1

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 ...[more]

PMID: 26139375

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Project description:Brain-machine interfaces allow neuroscientists to causally link specific neural activity patterns to a particular behaviour. Thus, in addition to their current clinical applications, brain-machine interfaces can also be used as a tool to investigate neural mechanisms of learning and plasticity in the brain. Decades of research using such brain-machine interfaces have shown that animals (non-human primates and rodents) can be operantly conditioned to self-regulate neural activity in various motor-related structures of the brain. Here, we ask whether the human brain, a complex interconnected structure of over 80 billion neurons, can learn to control itself at the most elemental scale-a single neuron. We used the unique opportunity to record single units in 11 individuals with epilepsy to explore whether the firing rate of a single (direct) neuron in limbic and other memory-related brain structures can be brought under volitional control. To do this, we developed a visual neurofeedback task in which participants were trained to move a block on a screen by modulating the activity of an arbitrarily selected neuron from their brain. Remarkably, participants were able to volitionally modulate the firing rate of the direct neuron in these previously uninvestigated structures. We found that a subset of participants (learners), were able to improve their performance within a single training session. Successful learning was characterized by (i) highly specific modulation of the direct neuron (demonstrated by significantly increased firing rates and burst frequency); (ii) a simultaneous decorrelation of the activity of the direct neuron from the neighbouring neurons; and (iii) robust phase-locking of the direct neuron to local alpha/beta-frequency oscillations, which may provide some insights in to the potential neural mechanisms that facilitate this type of learning. Volitional control of neuronal activity in mnemonic structures may provide new ways of probing the function and plasticity of human memory without exogenous stimulation. Furthermore, self-regulation of neural activity in these brain regions may provide an avenue for the development of novel neuroprosthetics for the treatment of neurological conditions that are commonly associated with pathological activity in these brain structures, such as medically refractory epilepsy.

Dataset Information

Rapid Encoding of New Memories by Individual Neurons in the Human Brain.

Publications

Rapid Encoding of New Memories by Individual Neurons in the Human Brain.

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