Direct electrical stimulation of the human brain can elicit sensory and motor perceptions as well as recall of memories. Stimulating higher order association areas of the lateral temporal cortex in particular was reported to activate visual and auditory memory representations of past experiences (Penfield and Perot, 1963). We hypothesized that this effect could be used to modulate memory processing. Recent attempts at memory enhancement in the human brain have been focused on the hippocampus and other mesial temporal lobe structures, with a few reports of memory improvement in small studies of individual brain regions. Here, we investigated the effect of stimulation in four brain regions known to support declarative memory: hippocampus, parahippocampal neocortex, prefrontal cortex and temporal cortex. Intracranial electrode recordings with stimulation were used to assess verbal memory performance in a group of 22 patients (nine males). We show enhanced performance with electrical stimulation in the lateral temporal cortex (paired t-test, P = 0.0067), but not in the other brain regions tested. This selective enhancement was observed both on the group level, and for two of the four individual subjects stimulated in the temporal cortex. This study shows that electrical stimulation in specific brain areas can enhance verbal memory performance in humans.awx373media15704855796001.
- MeSH
- časové faktory MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- epilepsie komplikace MeSH
- hluboká mozková stimulace metody MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mapování mozku MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- poruchy paměti etiologie terapie MeSH
- spánkový lalok fyziologie MeSH
- verbální učení fyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- audiovizuální média MeSH
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
Direct electrical stimulation of the brain has emerged as a powerful treatment for multiple neurological diseases, and as a potential technique to enhance human cognition. Despite its application in a range of brain disorders, it remains unclear how stimulation of discrete brain areas affects memory performance and the underlying electrophysiological activities. Here, we investigated the effect of direct electrical stimulation in four brain regions known to support declarative memory: hippocampus (HP), parahippocampal region (PH) neocortex, prefrontal cortex (PF), and lateral temporal cortex (TC). Intracranial EEG recordings with stimulation were collected from 22 patients during performance of verbal memory tasks. We found that high γ (62-118 Hz) activity induced by word presentation was modulated by electrical stimulation. This modulatory effect was greatest for trials with "poor" memory encoding. The high γ modulation correlated with the behavioral effect of stimulation in a given brain region: it was negative, i.e., the induced high γ activity was decreased, in the regions where stimulation decreased memory performance, and positive in the lateral TC where memory enhancement was observed. Our results suggest that the effect of electrical stimulation on high γ activity induced by word presentation may be a useful biomarker for mapping memory networks and guiding therapeutic brain stimulation.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- elektrická stimulace * MeSH
- elektrokortikografie * MeSH
- gama rytmus EEG fyziologie MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mozková kůra fyziologie MeSH
- paměť fyziologie MeSH
- refrakterní epilepsie patofyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- multicentrická studie MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. MeSH
Gamma frequency activity (30-150 Hz) is induced in cognitive tasks and is thought to reflect underlying neural processes. Gamma frequency activity can be recorded directly from the human brain using intracranial electrodes implanted in patients undergoing treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy. Previous studies have independently explored narrowband oscillations in the local field potential and broadband power increases. It is not clear, however, which processes contribute to human brain gamma frequency activity, or their dynamics and roles during memory processing. Here a large dataset of intracranial recordings obtained during encoding of words from 101 patients was used to detect, characterize and compare induced gamma frequency activity events. Individual bursts of gamma frequency activity were isolated in the time-frequency domain to determine their spectral features, including peak frequency, amplitude, frequency span, and duration. We found two distinct types of gamma frequency activity events that showed either narrowband or broadband frequency spans revealing characteristic spectral properties. Narrowband events, the predominant type, were induced by word presentations following an initial induction of broadband events, which were temporally separated and selectively correlated with evoked response potentials, suggesting that they reflect different neural activities and play different roles during memory encoding. The two gamma frequency activity types were differentially modulated during encoding of subsequently recalled and forgotten words. In conclusion, we found evidence for two distinct activity types induced in the gamma frequency range during cognitive processing. Separating these two gamma frequency activity components contributes to the current understanding of electrophysiological biomarkers, and may prove useful for emerging neurotechnologies targeting, mapping and modulating distinct neurophysiological processes in normal and epileptogenic brain.
