Lessons from the Human Brain: Neuronal Activity Related to Cognition

Abstract

Several special clinical settings provide opportunities for extracellular recording of neuronal activity in the human brain during measures of cognition. The limited experience with recordings obtained from human temporal and frontal cortex, medial temporal lobe, and subcortical structures in association with language, visuospatial processes, memory, learning, and music is reviewed here. The frequency of activity in a high proportion of neurons changes with a specific behavior. These neurons are widely distributed in both hemispheres. Relative inhibition of activity is prominent in cortical recordings made during language measures, particularly in the dominant hemisphere. Widespread excitation is prominent in recordings made during measures of recent explicit memory and learning. However, any individual neuron often has a narrow behavioral repertory, with activation to only one specific behavior in a range of behaviors. Some of the behaviors associated with consistent changes are not intuitively obvious. Nearby neurons often have different behavioral repertories. A few patterns of activity that may represent specific coding for a behavior, in some cases even sparse coding, have been identified. Neuronal recording in humans during cognitive measures provides an additional perspective on the neurobiological substrate of cognition that complements findings from other techniques.