TY - JOUR
T1 - Human hippocampal and parahippocampal theta during goal-directed spatial navigation predicts performance on a virtual Morris water maze
AU - Cornwell, Brian R.
AU - Johnson, Linda L.
AU - Holroyd, Tom
AU - Carver, Frederick W.
AU - Grillon, Christian
PY - 2008/6/4
Y1 - 2008/6/4
N2 - The hippocampus and parahippocampal cortices exhibit theta oscillations during spatial navigation in animals and humans, and in the former are thought to mediate spatial memory formation. Functional specificity of human hippocampal theta, however, is unclear. Neuromagnetic activity was recorded with a whole-head 275-channel magnetoencephalographic (MEG) system as healthy participants navigated to a hidden platform in a virtual reality Morris water maze. MEG data were analyzed for underlying oscillatory sources in the 4-8 Hz band using a spatial filtering technique (i.e., synthetic aperture magnetometry). Source analyses revealed greater theta activity in the left anterior hippocampus and parahippocampal cortices during goal-directed navigation relative to aimless movements in a sensorimotor control condition. Additional analyses showed that left anterior hippocampal activity was predominantly observed during the first one-half of training, pointing to a role for this region in early learning. Moreover, posterior hippocampal theta was highly correlated with navigation performance, with the former accounting for 76% of the variance of the latter. Our findings suggest human spatial learning is dependent on hippocampal and parahippocampal theta oscillations, extending to humans a significant body of research demonstrating such a pivotal role for hippocampal theta in animal navigation.
AB - The hippocampus and parahippocampal cortices exhibit theta oscillations during spatial navigation in animals and humans, and in the former are thought to mediate spatial memory formation. Functional specificity of human hippocampal theta, however, is unclear. Neuromagnetic activity was recorded with a whole-head 275-channel magnetoencephalographic (MEG) system as healthy participants navigated to a hidden platform in a virtual reality Morris water maze. MEG data were analyzed for underlying oscillatory sources in the 4-8 Hz band using a spatial filtering technique (i.e., synthetic aperture magnetometry). Source analyses revealed greater theta activity in the left anterior hippocampus and parahippocampal cortices during goal-directed navigation relative to aimless movements in a sensorimotor control condition. Additional analyses showed that left anterior hippocampal activity was predominantly observed during the first one-half of training, pointing to a role for this region in early learning. Moreover, posterior hippocampal theta was highly correlated with navigation performance, with the former accounting for 76% of the variance of the latter. Our findings suggest human spatial learning is dependent on hippocampal and parahippocampal theta oscillations, extending to humans a significant body of research demonstrating such a pivotal role for hippocampal theta in animal navigation.
KW - Hippocampus
KW - Magnetoencephalography
KW - Morris water maze
KW - Spatial memory
KW - Synthetic aperture magnetometry
KW - Theta rhythm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=44949242629&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5001-07.2008
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5001-07.2008
M3 - Article
C2 - 18524903
AN - SCOPUS:44949242629
SN - 0270-6474
VL - 28
SP - 5983
EP - 5990
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
IS - 23
ER -