Electrode implants elucidate whole-brain map of electrical connectivity

The researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that low-frequency rhythms of brain activity, when brain waves move up and down slowly, primarily drive communication between the frontal, temporal and medial temporal lobes, key brain regions that engage during memory processing.

The research, part of the Restoring Active Memory (RAM) project, was conducted by Michael Kahana, Penn professor of psychology and principal investigator of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's RAM program; Ethan Solomon, an M.D./Ph.D. student in the Department of Bioengineering; and Daniel Rizzuto, director of cognitive neuromodulation at Penn. They published their findings in Nature Communications.

This work is said to show the way different regions of the brain communicate during cognitive processes like memory formation. Previous have examined brain networks using non-invasive tools like functional MRI, but observations of large-scale networks using direct human-brain recordings have been difficult to secure because these data can only come from neurosurgical patients.