Right-lateralized brain oscillations in human spatial navigation.
During spatial navigation, lesion and functional imaging studies suggest that the right hemisphere has a unique functional role. However, studies of direct human brain recordings have not reported interhemisphere differences in navigation-related oscillatory activity. We investigated this apparent discrepancy using intracranial electroencephalographic recordings from 24 neurosurgical patients playing a virtual taxi driver game. When patients were virtually moving in the game, brain oscillations at various frequencies increased in amplitude compared with periods of virtual stillness. Using log-linear analysis, we analyzed the region and frequency specificities of this pattern and found that neocortical movement-related gamma oscillations (34-54 Hz) were significantly lateralized to the right hemisphere, especially in posterior neocortex. We also observed a similar right lateralization of gamma oscillations related to searching for objects at unknown virtual locations. Thus, our results indicate that gamma oscillations in the right neocortex play a special role in human spatial navigation.
Jacobs
Joshua
J
Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 3401 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Korolev
Igor O
IO
Caplan
Jeremy B
JB
Ekstrom
Arne D
AD
Litt
Brian
B
Baltuch
Gordon
G
Fried
Itzhak
I
Schulze-Bonhage
Andreas
A
Madsen
Joseph R
JR
Kahana
Michael J
MJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D004566:Electrodes; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006040:Goals; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D019579:Neocortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009949:Orientation; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult