A learning-evoked slow-oscillatory architecture paces population activity for offline reactivation across the human medial temporal lobe

Curot J
Nunes-da-Silva R
Dornier V
Denuelle M
De Barros A
Sol J
Lotterie J
Lehongre K
Fernandez-Vidal S
Frazzini V
Navarro V
Valton L
Barbeau EJ
Reddy L

How does the human brain turn new experiences into memories? Causse et al. found that memory processing evokes transient, slow-oscillatory bursts in the human hippocampus. These bursts coordinate neuronal populations across the medial temporal lobe during learning, organizing patterns of activity that are reactivated during hippocampal ripples at rest. The stronger the reactivation, the better memories were recalled later, revealing a mechanism that links learning, memory consolidation, and recall in the human brain.

Scientific Abstract

Memory processing requires coordinated engagement of neuronal populations across brain networks and over time. How such coordination is organized in the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) remains unclear. Here, we show that MTL population activity is dynamically structured by a transient slow-oscillatory architecture that emerges during learning to promote offline consolidation and later recall. Using intracranial recordings that combine single-neuron spiking activity and local field potentials in human participants, we find that mnemonic engagement elicits on-demand slow-oscillatory bursts in the hippocampus. These hippocampal bursts synchronize gamma-band patterns across MTL regions, defining discrete coordination events that pace cross-regional coactivity motifs during learning. These learning-evoked population motifs are selectively reactivated during hippocampal ripples in post-learning rest, and the strength of their reactivation predicts subsequent recall accuracy. Together, these findings identify a multi-scale coordination mechanism that links distributed population activity across learning, consolidation, and recall in humans.

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Causse AA, Curot J, Lopes-Dos-Santos V, Nunes-da-Silva R, Barron HC, Dornier V, Denuelle M, De Barros A, Sol J, Lotterie J, Lehongre K, Fernandez-Vidal S, Frazzini V, Navarro V, Valton L, Barbeau EJ, Denison T, Reddy L, Dupret D

A learning-evoked slow-oscillatory architecture paces population activity for offline reactivation across the human medial temporal lobe

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Nandi T, Puonti O, Clarke WT, Nettekoven CR, Barron HC, Kolasinski J, Hanayik T, Hinson EL, Berrington A, Bachtiar V, Johnstone A, Winkler AM, Thielscher A, Johansen-Berg H, Stagg CJ

tDCS induced GABA change is associated with the simulated electric field in M1, an effect mediated by grey matter volume in the MRS voxel

A learning-evoked slow-oscillatory architecture paces population activity for offline reactivation across the human medial temporal lobe

Curot J
Nunes-da-Silva R
Dornier V
Denuelle M
De Barros A
Sol J
Lotterie J
Lehongre K
Fernandez-Vidal S
Frazzini V
Navarro V
Valton L
Barbeau EJ
Reddy L

How does the human brain turn new experiences into memories? Causse et al. found that memory processing evokes transient, slow-oscillatory bursts in the human hippocampus. These bursts coordinate neuronal populations across the medial temporal lobe during learning, organizing patterns of activity that are reactivated during hippocampal ripples at rest. The stronger the reactivation, the better memories were recalled later, revealing a mechanism that links learning, memory consolidation, and recall in the human brain.

Scientific Abstract

Memory processing requires coordinated engagement of neuronal populations across brain networks and over time. How such coordination is organized in the human medial temporal lobe (MTL) remains unclear. Here, we show that MTL population activity is dynamically structured by a transient slow-oscillatory architecture that emerges during learning to promote offline consolidation and later recall. Using intracranial recordings that combine single-neuron spiking activity and local field potentials in human participants, we find that mnemonic engagement elicits on-demand slow-oscillatory bursts in the hippocampus. These hippocampal bursts synchronize gamma-band patterns across MTL regions, defining discrete coordination events that pace cross-regional coactivity motifs during learning. These learning-evoked population motifs are selectively reactivated during hippocampal ripples in post-learning rest, and the strength of their reactivation predicts subsequent recall accuracy. Together, these findings identify a multi-scale coordination mechanism that links distributed population activity across learning, consolidation, and recall in humans.

Citation

2026. Neuron (ePub ahead of print).

DOI

10.1016/j.neuron.2026.05.004

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Preprint
Causse AA, Curot J, Lopes-Dos-Santos V, Nunes-da-Silva R, Barron HC, Dornier V, Denuelle M, De Barros A, Sol J, Lotterie J, Lehongre K, Fernandez-Vidal S, Frazzini V, Navarro V, Valton L, Barbeau EJ, Denison T, Reddy L, Dupret D

A learning-evoked slow-oscillatory architecture paces population activity for offline reactivation across the human medial temporal lobe

Preprint
Nandi T, Puonti O, Clarke WT, Nettekoven CR, Barron HC, Kolasinski J, Hanayik T, Hinson EL, Berrington A, Bachtiar V, Johnstone A, Winkler AM, Thielscher A, Johansen-Berg H, Stagg CJ

tDCS induced GABA change is associated with the simulated electric field in M1, an effect mediated by grey matter volume in the MRS voxel