A fundamental mystery of the human cortex is how its 16 billion neurons integrate or bind the many different kinds of information they encode into a single coherent unified experience or memory.
Scientists have hypothesized that such binding involves high-frequency oscillations or “ripples” that promote neural interactions, much like rhythm does in music or dance. In a paper published July 7, 2022 in PNAS, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine provide some of the first empirical evidence that such ripples do, in fact, occur in people.
“Think about the experience of petting your cat: its form, location, surroundings, color, feel, movement and sound, plus your own responding emotions and actions. They are all bound together in a coherent whole,” said senior author Eric Halgren, PhD, professor of radiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine.
“These…
