Dynamic neural representations of memory and space during human ambulatory navigation

Sabrina L. L. Maoz, Matthias Stangl, Uros Topalovic, Daniel Batista, Sonja Hiller, Zahra M. Aghajan, Barbara Knowlton, John Stern, Jean-Philippe Langevin, Itzhak Fried, Dawn Eliashiv and Nanthia Suthana ()
Additional contact information
Sabrina L. L. Maoz: University of California, Los Angeles
Matthias Stangl: University of California, Los Angeles
Uros Topalovic: University of California, Los Angeles
Daniel Batista: University of California, Los Angeles
Sonja Hiller: University of California, Los Angeles
Zahra M. Aghajan: University of California, Los Angeles
Barbara Knowlton: University of California, Los Angeles
John Stern: University of California, Los Angeles
Jean-Philippe Langevin: Neurosurgery Service, Department of Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System
Itzhak Fried: University of California, Los Angeles
Dawn Eliashiv: University of California, Los Angeles
Nanthia Suthana: University of California, Los Angeles

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Our ability to recall memories of personal experiences is an essential part of daily life. These episodic memories often involve movement through space and thus require continuous encoding of one’s position relative to the surrounding environment. The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is thought to be critically involved, based on studies in freely moving rodents and stationary humans. However, it remains unclear if and how the MTL represents both space and memory especially during physical navigation, given challenges associated with deep brain recordings in humans during movement. We recorded intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) activity while participants completed an ambulatory spatial memory task within an immersive virtual reality environment. MTL theta activity was modulated by successful memory retrieval or spatial positions within the environment, depending on dynamically changing behavioral goals. Altogether, these results demonstrate how human MTL oscillations can represent both memory and space in a temporally flexible manner during freely moving navigation.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42231-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:14:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-023-42231-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42231-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().