Successful execution of working memory linked to synchronized high-frequency gamma oscillations.
Neuronal oscillations have been hypothesized to play an important role in cognition and its ensuing behavior, but evidence that links a specific neuronal oscillation to a discrete cognitive event is largely lacking. We measured neuronal activity in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit while mice performed a reward-based spatial working memory task. During the memory retention period, a transient burst of high gamma synchronization preceded an animal's correct choice in both prospective planning and retrospective mistake correction, but not an animal's incorrect choice. Optogenetic inhibition of the circuit targeted to the choice point area resulted in a coordinated reduction in both high gamma synchrony and correct execution of a working-memory-guided behavior. These findings suggest that transient high gamma synchrony contributes to the successful execution of spatial working memory. Furthermore, our data are consistent with an association between transient high gamma synchrony and explicit awareness of the working memory content.
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Jun
J
Yamamoto
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Junghyup
J
Suh
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Daigo
D
Takeuchi
RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology and Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: tonegawa@mit.edu.
Susumu
S
Tonegawa
D000818:Animals; D055724:Electrophysiological Phenomena; D018728:Entorhinal Cortex / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*