Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe

Hernan G. Rey; Theofanis I. Panagiotaropoulos; Lorenzo Gutierrez; Fernando J. Chaure; Alejandro Nasimbera; Santiago Cordisco; Fabian Nishida; Antonio Valentin; Gonzalo Alarcon; Mark P. Richardson; Silvia Kochen; Rodrigo Quian Quiroga

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115218

Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe

Hernan G. Rey, Theofanis I. Panagiotaropoulos, Lorenzo Gutierrez, Fernando J. Chaure, Alejandro Nasimbera, Santiago Cordisco, Fabian Nishida, Antonio Valentin, Gonzalo Alarcon, Mark P. Richardson, Silvia Kochen, Rodrigo Quian Quiroga^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

In subjects implanted with intracranial electrodes, we use two different stories involving the same person (or place) to evaluate whether and to what extent context modulates human single-neuron responses. Nearly all neurons (97% during encoding and 100% during recall) initially responding to a person/place do not modulate their response with context. Likewise, nearly none (<1%) of the initially non-responsive neurons show conjunctive coding, responding to particular persons/places in a particular context during the tasks. In line with these findings, taking all neurons together it is possible to decode the person/place being depicted in each story, but not the particular story. Moreover, the neurons show consistent results across encoding and recall of the stories and during passive viewing of pictures. These results suggest a context invariant, non-conjunctive coding of memories at the single-neuron level in the human hippocampus and amygdala, in contrast to what has been described in other species.

Original language	English
Article number	115218
Journal	Cell Reports
Volume	44
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115218
Publication status	Published - 28 Jan 2025

Keywords

context modulation
CP: Neuroscience
episodic memory
hippocampus
human memory
human single-cell recordings
memory
neural coding
pattern separation

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10.1016/j.celrep.2024.115218

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title = "Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe",

abstract = "In subjects implanted with intracranial electrodes, we use two different stories involving the same person (or place) to evaluate whether and to what extent context modulates human single-neuron responses. Nearly all neurons (97% during encoding and 100% during recall) initially responding to a person/place do not modulate their response with context. Likewise, nearly none (<1%) of the initially non-responsive neurons show conjunctive coding, responding to particular persons/places in a particular context during the tasks. In line with these findings, taking all neurons together it is possible to decode the person/place being depicted in each story, but not the particular story. Moreover, the neurons show consistent results across encoding and recall of the stories and during passive viewing of pictures. These results suggest a context invariant, non-conjunctive coding of memories at the single-neuron level in the human hippocampus and amygdala, in contrast to what has been described in other species.",

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AU - Panagiotaropoulos, Theofanis I.

AU - Gutierrez, Lorenzo

AU - Chaure, Fernando J.

AU - Nasimbera, Alejandro

AU - Cordisco, Santiago

AU - Nishida, Fabian

AU - Valentin, Antonio

AU - Alarcon, Gonzalo

AU - Richardson, Mark P.

AU - Kochen, Silvia

AU - Quian Quiroga, Rodrigo

PY - 2025/1/28

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N2 - In subjects implanted with intracranial electrodes, we use two different stories involving the same person (or place) to evaluate whether and to what extent context modulates human single-neuron responses. Nearly all neurons (97% during encoding and 100% during recall) initially responding to a person/place do not modulate their response with context. Likewise, nearly none (<1%) of the initially non-responsive neurons show conjunctive coding, responding to particular persons/places in a particular context during the tasks. In line with these findings, taking all neurons together it is possible to decode the person/place being depicted in each story, but not the particular story. Moreover, the neurons show consistent results across encoding and recall of the stories and during passive viewing of pictures. These results suggest a context invariant, non-conjunctive coding of memories at the single-neuron level in the human hippocampus and amygdala, in contrast to what has been described in other species.

AB - In subjects implanted with intracranial electrodes, we use two different stories involving the same person (or place) to evaluate whether and to what extent context modulates human single-neuron responses. Nearly all neurons (97% during encoding and 100% during recall) initially responding to a person/place do not modulate their response with context. Likewise, nearly none (<1%) of the initially non-responsive neurons show conjunctive coding, responding to particular persons/places in a particular context during the tasks. In line with these findings, taking all neurons together it is possible to decode the person/place being depicted in each story, but not the particular story. Moreover, the neurons show consistent results across encoding and recall of the stories and during passive viewing of pictures. These results suggest a context invariant, non-conjunctive coding of memories at the single-neuron level in the human hippocampus and amygdala, in contrast to what has been described in other species.

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Lack of context modulation in human single neuron responses in the medial temporal lobe

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Keywords

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