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Long-term coding of personal and universal associations underlying the memory web in the human brain

Author

Listed:
  • Emanuela De Falco

    (Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester)

  • Matias J. Ison

    (Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester
    University of Leicester
    Present address: School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK)

  • Itzhak Fried

    (David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles
    Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles
    Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University
    Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Tel-Aviv Medical Center)

  • Rodrigo Quian Quiroga

    (Centre for Systems Neuroscience, University of Leicester
    University of Leicester)

Abstract

Neurons in the medial temporal lobe (MTL), a critical area for declarative memory, have been shown to change their tuning in associative learning tasks. Yet, it is unclear how durable these neuronal representations are and if they outlast the execution of the task. To address this issue, we studied the responses of MTL neurons in neurosurgical patients to known concepts (people and places). Using association scores provided by the patients and a web-based metric, here we show that whenever MTL neurons respond to more than one concept, these concepts are typically related. Furthermore, the degree of association between concepts could be successfully predicted based on the neurons’ response patterns. These results provide evidence for a long-term involvement of MTL neurons in the representation of durable associations, a hallmark of human declarative memory.

Suggested Citation

  • Emanuela De Falco & Matias J. Ison & Itzhak Fried & Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, 2016. "Long-term coding of personal and universal associations underlying the memory web in the human brain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13408
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13408
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    Cited by:

    1. Thomas P. Reber & Sina Mackay & Marcel Bausch & Marcel S. Kehl & Valeri Borger & Rainer Surges & Florian Mormann, 2023. "Single-neuron mechanisms of neural adaptation in the human temporal lobe," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Chiara Gastaldi & Tilo Schwalger & Emanuela De Falco & Rodrigo Quian Quiroga & Wulfram Gerstner, 2021. "When shared concept cells support associations: Theory of overlapping memory engrams," PLOS Computational Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(12), pages 1-44, December.
    3. Marcel Bausch & Johannes Niediek & Thomas P. Reber & Sina Mackay & Jan Boström & Christian E. Elger & Florian Mormann, 2021. "Concept neurons in the human medial temporal lobe flexibly represent abstract relations between concepts," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-12, December.

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