title: More than spikes: common oscillatory mechanisms for content specific neural representations during perception and memory.
abstract: Although previous research into the mechanisms underlying sensory and episodic representations has primarily focused on changes in neural firing rate, more recent evidence suggests that neural oscillations also contribute to these representations. Here, we argue that multiplexed oscillatory power and phase contribute to neural representations at the mesoscopic scale, complementary to neuronal firing. Reviewing recent studies which used oscillatory activity to decipher content-specific neural representations, we identify oscillatory mechanisms common to both sensory and episodic memory representations and incorporate these into a model of episodic encoding and retrieval. This model advances the idea that oscillations provide a reference frame for phase-coded item representations during memory encoding and that shifts in oscillatory frequency and phase coordinate ensemble activity during memory retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: andrew.j.watrous@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Watrous
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fell
authors.affiliation: Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, CA, United States; Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, CA, United States.
authors.forename: Arne D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Ekstrom
authors.affiliation: Department of Epileptology, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Disease (DZNE), Bonn, Germany. Electronic address: nikolai.axmacher@ukb.uni-bonn.de.
authors.forename: Nikolai
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Axmacher
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*