title: Human hippocampal theta activity during virtual navigation.
abstract: This study examines whether 4-8-Hz theta oscillations can be seen in the human hippocampus, and whether these oscillations increase during virtual movement and searching, as they do in rodents. Recordings from both hippocampal and neocortical depth electrodes were analyzed while six epileptic patients played a virtual taxi-driver game. During the game, the patients alternated between searching for passengers, whose locations were random, and delivering them to stores, whose locations remained constant. In both hippocampus and neocortex, theta increased during virtual movement in all phases of the game. Hippocampal and neocortical theta activity were also significantly correlated with each other, but this correlation did not differ between neocortex and hippocampus and within disparate neocortical electrodes. Our findings demonstrate the existence of movement-related theta oscillations in human hippocampus, and suggest that both cortical and hippocampal oscillations play a role in attention and sensorimotor integration.
authors.affiliation: Division of Brain Mapping and Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Arne D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ekstrom
authors.forename: Jeremy B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Caplan
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Kirk
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shattuck
authors.forename: Itzhak
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kahana
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019579:Neocortex / Q000502:physiology; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology*; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013826:Theta Rhythm; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014584:User-Computer Interface