Oscillatory correlates of memory in non-human primates

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Michael J. Jutras, Emory University; Elizabeth Buffalo, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2014-01-15
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2013 Elsevier Inc.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.07.011
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: NeuroImage
• ISSN: 1053-8119
• Volume: 85
• Start Page: 694
• End Page: 701
• Grant/Funding Information: Supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, MH080007 and MH093807 (E.A.B.), and the National Center for Research Resources P51RR165 (currently the Office of Research Infrastructure Programs/OD P51OD11132).
• Keywords: Nerve Net; Medial temporal lobe; Oscillations; Humans; Primates; Memory; Hippocampus; Theta; Animals; Gamma; Temporal Lobe; Brain Waves; Monkeys
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Radiology; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

The ability to navigate through our environment, explore with our senses, track the passage of time, and integrate these various components to form the experiences which make up our lives is shared among humans and animals. The use of animal models to study memory, coupled with electrophysiological techniques that permit the direct measurement of neural activity as memories are formed and retrieved, has provided a wealth of knowledge about these mechanisms. Here, we discuss current knowledge regarding the specific role of neural oscillations in memory, with particular emphasis on findings derived from non-human primates. Some of these findings provide evidence for the existence in the primate brain of mechanisms previously identified only in rodents and other lower mammals, while other findings suggest parallels between memory-related activity and processes observed in other cognitive modalities, including attention and sensory perception. Taken together, these results provide insight into how network activity may be organized to promote memory formation, and suggest that key aspects of this activity are similar across species, providing important information about the organization of human memory.