Neural Activity in Human Hippocampal Formation Reveals the Spatial Context of Retrieved Memories

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 342; no. 6162; pp. 1111 - 1114
• Main Authors: Miller, Jonathan F., Neufang, Markus, Solway, Alec, Brandt, Armin, Trippel, Michael, Mader, Irina, Hefft, Stefan, Merkow, Max, Polyn, Sean M., Jacobs, Joshua, Kahana, Michael J., Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 29.11.2013; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Cell Separation; cognition; Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive Mapping; Computer Simulation; Educational Games; Electrodes, Implanted; Environment; Epilepsy; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy; hippocampus; Hippocampus - cytology; Hippocampus - physiology; Humans; Medical sciences; Memory; Memory, Episodic; Navigation; Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes); Neurobiology; Neurology; neurons; Neurons - physiology; Neurotransmitters; patients; Recall (Psychology); space and time; Space Perception - physiology; Studies; Temporal Lobe - cytology; Temporal Lobe - physiology; User-Computer Interface; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Human; Temporal lobe; Memory retrieval; Nervous system diseases; Epilepsy; Central nervous system; Hippocampus; Encephalon; Spatial memory
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1244056

In many species, spatial navigation is supported by a network of place cells that exhibit increased firing whenever an animal is in a certain region of an environment. Does this neural representation of location form part of the spatiotemporal context into which episodic memories are encoded? We recorded medial temporal lobe neuronal activity as epilepsy patients performed a hybrid spatial and episodic memory task. We identified place-responsive cells active during virtual navigation and then asked whether the same cells activated during the subsequent recall of navigation-related memories without actual navigation. Place-responsive cell activity was reinstated during episodic memory retrieval. Neuronal firing during the retrieval of each memory was similar to the activity that represented the locations in the environment where the memory was initially encoded.