Volitional learning promotes theta phase coding in the human hippocampus

Electrophysiological studies in rodents show that active navigation enhances hippocampal theta oscillations (4–12 Hz), providing a temporal framework for stimulus-related neural codes. Here we show that active learning promotes a similar phase coding regime in humans, although in a lower frequency r...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Pacheco Estefan, Daniel, Zucca, Riccardo, Arsiwalla, Xerxes D., Principe, Alessandro, Zhang, Hui, Rocamora Zúñiga, Rodrigo Alberto, Axmacher, Nikolai, Verschure, Paul F. M. J.
Tipo de documento: artigo
Estado:Versão publicada
Data de publicação:2021
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Pompeu Fabra
Repositório:Repositorio Digital de la UPF
OAI Identifier:oai:repositori.upf.edu:10230/56048
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10230/56048
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021238118
Access Level:Acceso aberto
Palavra-chave:active learning
intracranial EEG
theta oscillations
neural phase coding
hippocampus
Descrição
Resumo:Electrophysiological studies in rodents show that active navigation enhances hippocampal theta oscillations (4–12 Hz), providing a temporal framework for stimulus-related neural codes. Here we show that active learning promotes a similar phase coding regime in humans, although in a lower frequency range (3–8 Hz). We analyzed intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) from epilepsy patients who studied images under either volitional or passive learning conditions. Active learning increased memory performance and hippocampal theta oscillations and promoted a more accurate reactivation of stimulus-specific information during memory retrieval. Representational signals were clustered to opposite phases of the theta cycle during encoding and retrieval. Critically, during active but not passive learning, the temporal structure of intracycle reactivations in theta reflected the semantic similarity of stimuli, segregating conceptually similar items into more distant theta phases. Taken together, these results demonstrate a multilayered mechanism by which active learning improves memory via a phylogenetically old phase coding scheme.