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The human hippocampus as a complementary indexing machine for episodic memory

Objective

Episodic memories make us who we are, yet how these memories are coded in the human brain remains an open question. We know that the human hippocampus is essential for turning unique experiences into memory episodes, such as a memory from the last concert you have attended. We also know that the human hippocampus has two types of neurons that could be critical for coding such episodic memories. These are Concept Cells, which store general semantic concepts (i.e. the artist, or the location where the concert was), and Episode Specific Neurons, which hold together all the elements that belong to an episode (i.e. seeing Taylor Swift performing in Edinburgh). Concept cells, which are well-known, represent a context invariant and highly abstract code for certain elements that matter to us, such as a certain place, or a certain person. In contrast, Episodic Specific Neurons, which have only recently been observed, represent a conjunctive code that uniquely identifies individual episodes. However, how these two types of neural codes are used by the hippocampus to code episodic memories is unclear. Specifically, we don’t know whether and how Episode Specific Neurons and Concept Cells interact with each other and with the neocortex. We don’t know where in the hippocampus they are, how they are allocated to code for a memory, and whether they are causally relevant for human episodic memory. The aim of MemoryIndex is to answer these questions via testing computationally motivated hypotheses in a multimodal project using a unique combination of human single neuron recordings, ultra-high field fMRI and invasive electrical stimulation. The results of this project will critically advance our understanding of the fundamental coding mechanisms that the human hippocampus uses for storing episodic memories. These findings could potentially pave the way for developing a neural prosthesis to restore memory function in patients.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-ADG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 012 224,50
Address
UNIVERSITY AVENUE
G12 8QQ Glasgow
United Kingdom

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Region
Scotland West Central Scotland Glasgow City
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

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Beneficiaries (4)

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