Thalamic theta phase alignment predicts human memory formation and anterior thalamic cross-frequency coupling

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Abstract

Previously we reported electrophysiological evidence for a role for the anterior thalamic nucleus (ATN) in human memory formation (Sweeney-Reed et al. 2014). Theta-gamma cross-frequency coupling (CFC) predicted successful memory formation, with the involvement of gamma oscillations suggesting memory-relevant local processing in the ATN. The importance of the theta frequency range in memory processing is well-established, and phase alignment of oscillations is considered to be necessary for synaptic plasticity. We hypothesized that theta phase alignment in the ATN would be necessary for memory encoding. Further analysis of the electrophysiological data reveal that phase alignment in the theta rhythm was greater during successful compared with unsuccessful encoding, and that this alignment was correlated with the CFC. These findings support an active processing role for the ATN during memory formation.

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Catherine M Sweeney-Reed

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

For correspondence
catherine.sweeney-reed@med.ovgu.de

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Tino Zaehle

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Jürgen Voges

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Friedhelm C Schmitt

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Lars Buentjen

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Klaus Kopitzki

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Hermann Hinrichs

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Hans-Jochen Heinze

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Michael D Rugg

Center for Vital Longevity and School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Dallas, United States

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Robert T Knight

Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, United States

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The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Alan Richardson-Klavehn

Department of Neurology, Otto von Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Ethics

Human subjects: The measurements were approved by the Ethics Commission of the Medical Faculty of the Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg (application number 0308), and all participants gave written informed consent in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and2008. Consent to participate in our study, as well as for publication of results in an anonymized format,was obtained by the neurosurgeon at the same time as consent was obtained for the surgicalprocedure.

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.