Chaieb Leila, Leszczynski Marcin, Axmacher Nikolai, Höhne Marlene, Elger Christian E, Fell Juergen
a Department of Epileptology , University of Bonn , Bonn , Germany.
b Department of Neuropsychology , Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr-University Bochum , Bochum , Germany.
Cogn Neurosci. 2015;6(4):149-57. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2015.1058254. Epub 2015 Jun 23.
The theta-gamma neural coding theory suggests that multiple items are represented in working memory (WM) by a superposition of gamma cycles on theta oscillations. To enable a stable, non-interfering representation of multiple items, such a theta-gamma neural code may be reflected by phase-phase coupling, i.e., a precise locking of gamma subcycles to specific theta phases. Recent data have indicated that the hippocampus critically contributes to multi-item working memory. Therefore, we investigated phase-phase coupling patterns in the hippocampus based on intracranial EEG recordings in presurgical epilepsy patients performing a variant of the serial Sternberg WM task. In accordance with predictions of the theta-gamma coding theory, we observed increased phase-phase coupling between theta and beta/gamma activity during working memory maintenance compared to inter-trial intervals. These phase-phase coupling patterns were apparent during maintenance of two and four items, but not during maintenance of a single item, where prominent lower coupling ratios occurred. Furthermore, we observed that load-dependent changes of coupling factors correlated with individual WM capacities. Our data demonstrate that multi-item WM is associated with changes in hippocampal phase-phase coupling between theta and beta/gamma activity.
θ-γ神经编码理论表明,工作记忆(WM)中多个项目由γ周期叠加在θ振荡上表示。为了实现多个项目的稳定、无干扰表示,这种θ-γ神经编码可能通过相位-相位耦合反映出来,即γ子周期精确锁定到特定的θ相位。最近的数据表明,海马体对多项目工作记忆至关重要。因此,我们基于对术前癫痫患者进行串行斯特恩伯格工作记忆任务变体时的颅内脑电图记录,研究了海马体中的相位-相位耦合模式。根据θ-γ编码理论的预测,我们观察到与试验间期相比,工作记忆维持期间θ与β/γ活动之间的相位-相位耦合增加。这些相位-相位耦合模式在维持两个和四个项目时明显,但在维持单个项目时不明显,此时耦合率显著降低。此外,我们观察到耦合因子的负荷依赖性变化与个体工作记忆容量相关。我们的数据表明,多项目工作记忆与海马体中θ与β/γ活动之间的相位-相位耦合变化有关。