Theta rhythmicity governs human behavior and hippocampal signals during memory-dependent tasks

Marije ter Wal (), Juan Linde-Domingo, Julia Lifanov, Frédéric Roux, Luca D. Kolibius, Stephanie Gollwitzer, Johannes Lang, Hajo Hamer, David Rollings, Vijay Sawlani, Ramesh Chelvarajah, Bernhard Staresina, Simon Hanslmayr and Maria Wimber ()
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Marije ter Wal: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Juan Linde-Domingo: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Julia Lifanov: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Frédéric Roux: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Luca D. Kolibius: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Stephanie Gollwitzer: Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
Johannes Lang: Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
Hajo Hamer: Universitätsklinikum Erlangen
David Rollings: Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Vijay Sawlani: Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Ramesh Chelvarajah: Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham
Bernhard Staresina: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Simon Hanslmayr: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham
Maria Wimber: School of Psychology & Centre for Human Brain Health, University of Birmingham

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Memory formation and reinstatement are thought to lock to the hippocampal theta rhythm, predicting that encoding and retrieval processes appear rhythmic themselves. Here, we show that rhythmicity can be observed in behavioral responses from memory tasks, where participants indicate, using button presses, the timing of encoding and recall of cue-object associative memories. We find no evidence for rhythmicity in button presses for visual tasks using the same stimuli, or for questions about already retrieved objects. The oscillations for correctly remembered trials center in the slow theta frequency range (1-5 Hz). Using intracranial EEG recordings, we show that the memory task induces temporally extended phase consistency in hippocampal local field potentials at slow theta frequencies, but significantly more for remembered than forgotten trials, providing a potential mechanistic underpinning for the theta oscillations found in behavioral responses.

Date: 2021
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-27323-3

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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-27323-3

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