Studying task-related activity of individual neurons in the human brain

Patel, Seema; Sheth, Sameer A.; Martinez-Rubio, Clarissa; Mian, Matthew K.; Asaad, Wael F.; Gerrard, Jason L.; Kwon, Churl Su; Dougherty, Darin D.; Flaherty, Alice W.; Greenberg, Benjamin D.; Gale, John T.; Williams, Ziv; Eskandar, Emad N.

doi:10.1038/nprot.2013.050

Cited by 20 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…For neuronal recordings, participants underwent intraoperative neurophysiology as part of their planned deep brain stimulator (DBS) placement 51–53 . Prior to consideration, candidates for the study were evaluated by a multidisciplinary team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neuropsychologists 24, 40 and decisions for surgery were unrelated to study participation. After surgical consent was obtained and the participants were scheduled for surgery, an independent member of the research team approached the patient for study participation.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether and what role neurons in the dlPFC may play in subjective decision making in humans by acutely following the activity of individual neurons in the dlPFC of participants undergoing planned operative neurophysiology (Fig. 1a) 24 . To further evaluate the causal contribution of the dlPFC to this process, we also examined the performances of individuals who had previously undergone clinically targeted resection of focal lesions in this same area.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Dorsolateral prefrontal neurons mediate subjective decisions and their variation in humans

et al. 2019

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Subjective decisions play a vital role in human behavior because, while often grounded in fact, they are inherently based on personal beliefs that can vary broadly within and between individuals. While these properties set subjective decisions apart from many other sensorimotor processes and are of wide sociological impact, their single-neuronal basis in humans is unknown. Here, we find cells in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) that reflected variations in the subjective decisions of humans when performing naturalistic opinion-based tasks. These neurons changed their activities gradually as the participants transitioned between choice options but also reflected their unique point of transition at equipoise. Focal disruption of the dlPFC, by contrast, diminished gradation between opposing decisions but had little effect on sensory perceptual choices or their motor report. These findings suggest that the human dlPFC plays an important role in subjective decisions and propose mechanism for mediating their variation during opinion formation.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Dorsolateral prefrontal neurons mediate subjective decisions and their variation in humans

et al. 2019

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“…This study was approved by the Massachusetts General Hospital Institutional Review Board (protocol number 2001P000877). For a more detailed description on performing cognitive studies with microelectrode recording during DBS, see ( Patel et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For a detailed description, please see ( Patel et al, 2013 ). Intraoperative microelectrode recordings were performed using three Para-sagittal tungsten microelectrodes ( Figure 1b ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intermittent subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation induces risk-aversive behavior in human subjects

Patel

Herrington

Sheth

et al. 2018

eLife

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The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is a small almond-shaped subcortical structure classically known for its role in motor inhibition through the indirect pathway within the basal ganglia. Little is known about the role of the STN in mediating cognitive functions in humans. Here, we explore the role of the STN in human subjects making decisions under conditions of uncertainty using single-neuron recordings and intermittent deep brain stimulation (DBS) during a financial decision-making task. Intraoperative single-neuronal data from the STN reveals that on high-uncertainty trials, spiking activity encodes the upcoming decision within a brief (500 ms) temporal window during the choice period, prior to the manifestation of the choice. Application of intermittent DBS selectively prior to the choice period alters decisions and biases subject behavior towards conservative wagers.

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“…These studies primarily recruit from diseased populations undergoing surgical treatment. During awake- neurosurgery signal acquisitions, patients may be anxious or uncomfortable (Patel et al, 2013 ). With repeat studies using different diseased populations, basal ganglia LFP studies may become more generalizable.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non-motor Characterization of the Basal Ganglia: Evidence From Human and Non-human Primate Electrophysiology

et al. 2018

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Although the basal ganglia have been implicated in a growing list of human behaviors, they include some of the least understood nuclei in the brain. For several decades studies have employed numerous methodologies to uncover evidence pointing to the basal ganglia as a hub of both motor and non-motor function. Recently, new electrophysiological characterization of the basal ganglia in humans has become possible through direct access to these deep structures as part of routine neurosurgery. Electrophysiological approaches for identifying non-motor function have the potential to unlock a deeper understanding of pathways that may inform clinical interventions and particularly neuromodulation. Various electrophysiological modalities can also be combined to reveal functional connections between the basal ganglia and traditional structures throughout the neocortex that have been linked to non-motor behavior. Several reviews have previously summarized evidence for non-motor function in the basal ganglia stemming from behavioral, clinical, computational, imaging, and non-primate animal studies; in this review, instead we turn to electrophysiological studies of non-human primates and humans. We begin by introducing common electrophysiological methodologies for basal ganglia investigation, and then we discuss studies across numerous non-motor domains–emotion, response inhibition, conflict, decision-making, error-detection and surprise, reward processing, language, and time processing. We discuss the limitations of current approaches and highlight the current state of the information.

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Studying task-related activity of individual neurons in the human brain

Cited by 20 publications

References 24 publications

Dorsolateral prefrontal neurons mediate subjective decisions and their variation in humans

Dorsolateral prefrontal neurons mediate subjective decisions and their variation in humans

Intermittent subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation induces risk-aversive behavior in human subjects

Non-motor Characterization of the Basal Ganglia: Evidence From Human and Non-human Primate Electrophysiology

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