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SUMMARY:Single neuron recordings and microstimulation in humans
DTSTART:20141111T140000
DTEND:20141111T150000
DTSTAMP:20260416T181851Z
UID:bd18085c10ba5fecc802c82e211ea6bed720b850f2f92b6da6eafc10
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Michael R. H. Hill\, University of Bonn & California Insti
 tute of Technology\nFor diagnostic purposes patients suffering from intrac
 table epilepsy are routinely implanted with clinical deep brain recording 
 electrodes. Adding research micro-electrodes to such a setup can provide t
 he rare opportunity to record single neuron responses in awake behaving hu
 man subjects. However\, trial numbers and the signal-to-noise ratio in suc
 h datasets are inherently low due to clinical circumstance. We therefore d
 eveloped a new algorithm to significantly increase the sensitivity and spe
 cificity in the analysis of peristimulus time histogram based data in huma
 n as well as non-human research. This algorithm was then applied together 
 with other novel analysis methods to investigate single neuron correlates 
 of social decision making in the human medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC)\, a
 nterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala.\nIn this research project sub
 jects were asked to play a card game in which they could optimize their wi
 nnings by observing their own and other players’ decisions and outcomes.
  We recorded various outcome and learning specific responses including sin
 gle neuron encoding of amounts in mPFC ($10 vs $100) and single neuron enc
 oding of observed outcomes as well as the encoding of learning while obser
 ving other players in the ACC (social reward prediction error).\nTo move f
 rom correlative findings such as these to a direct causal investigation of
  human neuronal activity we additionally developed chronic microstimulatio
 n protocols in humans. Microstimulation allows for precisely targeted modu
 lation of neuronal activity\; however\, due to increased risk it is rarely
  applied in human research. We developed new protocols and hardware for sa
 fe microstimulation in humans and applied these in a memory encoding and r
 etrieval paradigm. In this ongoing study we were able to show that microst
 imulation of the entorhinal cortex can significantly decrease memory perfo
 rmance. Through the development of new methods such as these\, and their a
 pplication in various cognitive research paradigms\, human intracranial el
 ectrophysiology can provide rare insight into the activity of single neuro
 ns in awake and behaving humans.
LOCATION:SV 1717 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==SV%201717
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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