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Banbury Center Workshop Series

Neurocomputational Strategies: From Synapses to Behavior (1998)
Functional Organization of the Thalamus and Cortex and their Interactions (1999)
Toward Animal Models of Attention and Consciousness (2000)
Persistent Neural Activity (2000)
Can a Machine Be Conscious? (2001)
Communication in Brain Systems (2004)
Neurobiology of Decision-Making (2005)
Computational Approaches to Cortical Functions (2006)
New Frontiers in Studies of Nonconscious Processing (2007)
Theoretical and Experimental Approaches to Auditory and Visual Attention (2008)
Searching for Principles Underlying Memory in Biological Systems (2009)
Neuronal Response Variability and Cortical Computation (2011)
Connections and Communication in the Brain (2014)

Michael Kahana

The role of brain oscillations in human spatial and verbal cognition: Evidence from intracranial recordings

Brandeis University

The high signal-to-noise ratio of human intracranial recordings provides a unique opportunity to examine brain oscillations with high temporal and spatial precision. We have shown that these oscillations occur predominantly in the theta band (4-8 Hz) and appear to be related to the cognitive demands of both spatial and non-spatial memory tasks (e.g., Kahana et al., 1999; Caplan et al, 2001; Raghavachari et al., 2001). These results mirror an extensive literature of the role of theta in rodent navigation, learning and memory. In this talk I will review our recent findings on the role of theta oscillations in maze learning and in verbal working memory. I will describe mathematical techniques for the assessment of frequency specific oscillatory episodes (Caplan et al., 2000) and for the analysis of phase reset (Rizzuto et al., submitted). Finally, I will present new evidence on the role of gamma oscillations in working memory.