Gamma–Theta–Spike Coupling Coordinates Sequential Memory in Human MTL

It has been suggested that hierarchical synchronization of theta and gamma oscillations coordinates neural activity during sequence memory. Yet, the role of gamma oscillations and their interaction with theta and single-unit activity (SUA) has not been directly examined in humans. We analysed simultaneous micro wire recordings of single-unit activity (N = 1417) and local field potentials (N = 917 channels) from the medial temporal lobe (MTL) of epilepsy patients performing a visual multi-item sequence memory task. During encoding, both spiking activity and gamma power contained item-specific information and were temporally coupled. During memory maintenance, stimulus-specific gamma was characterized by recurring bursts during which spiking was tightly synchronized and both, gamma and spiking, were preferentially aligned to similar theta phases predictive of sequential stimulus position. These findings demonstrate that theta–gamma–spike interactions support a phase-based multiplexed code for sequential memories in the human MTL.