Single-neuron spiking variability in hippocampus dynamically tracks sensory content during memory formation in humans

Leonhard Waschke; Fabian Kamp; Evi van den Elzen; Suresh Krishna; Ulman Lindenberger; Ueli Rutishauser; Douglas D Garrett

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-55406-4

Single-neuron spiking variability in hippocampus dynamically tracks sensory content during memory formation in humans

Nat Commun. 2025 Jan 2;16(1):236. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-55406-4.

Authors

Leonhard Waschke^#^{1

2}, Fabian Kamp^#^{1

2

3}, Evi van den Elzen⁴, Suresh Krishna⁵, Ulman Lindenberger^{1

2}, Ueli Rutishauser^{6

7

8

9}, Douglas D Garrett^{10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
² Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany.
³ Max Planck School of Cognition, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
⁴ Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands.
⁵ Department of Physiology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
⁶ Department of Neurosurgery, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁸ Division of Biology and Bioengineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
⁹ Center for Neural Science and Medicine, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
¹⁰ Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. garrett@mpib-berlin.mpg.de.
¹¹ Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany. garrett@mpib-berlin.mpg.de.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

During memory formation, the hippocampus is presumed to represent the content of stimuli, but how it does so is unknown. Using computational modelling and human single-neuron recordings, we show that the more precisely hippocampal spiking variability tracks the composite features of each individual stimulus, the better those stimuli are later remembered. We propose that moment-to-moment spiking variability may provide a new window into how the hippocampus constructs memories from the building blocks of our sensory world.

MeSH terms

Action Potentials* / physiology
Adult
Computer Simulation
Female
Hippocampus* / cytology
Hippocampus* / physiology
Humans
Male
Memory* / physiology
Models, Neurological*
Neurons* / physiology
Young Adult

Abstract

MeSH terms

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