A neural code for time and space in the human brain

Daniel R Schonhaut; Zahra M Aghajan; Michael J Kahana; Itzhak Fried

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113238

A neural code for time and space in the human brain

Cell Rep. 2023 Nov 28;42(11):113238. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113238. Epub 2023 Oct 31.

Authors

Daniel R Schonhaut¹, Zahra M Aghajan², Michael J Kahana³, Itzhak Fried⁴

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neuroscience, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
² Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA; Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel. Electronic address: ifried@mednet.ucla.edu.

PMID: 37906595
DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113238

Abstract

Time and space are primary dimensions of human experience. Separate lines of investigation have identified neural correlates of time and space, yet little is known about how these representations converge during self-guided experience. Here, 10 subjects with intracranially implanted microelectrodes play a timed, virtual navigation game featuring object search and retrieval tasks separated by fixed delays. Time cells and place cells activate in parallel during timed navigation intervals, whereas a separate time cell sequence spans inter-task delays. The prevalence, firing rates, and behavioral coding strengths of time cells and place cells are indistinguishable-yet time cells selectively remap between search and retrieval tasks, while place cell responses remain stable. Thus, the brain can represent time and space as overlapping but dissociable dimensions. Time cells and place cells may constitute a biological basis for the cognitive map of spatiotemporal context onto which memories are written.

Keywords: CP: Neuroscience; hippocampus; human neurons; medial temporal lobe; memory; prefrontal cortex; time; virtual navigation.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Brain* / physiology
Hippocampus / physiology
Humans
Neurons* / physiology
Space Perception / physiology

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

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