The role of theta oscillations in the spatial functions of the hippocampal formation

Supervisors:
Prof John O'Keefe, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL
Prof Neil Burgess, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UCL

In this essay a temporal analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG) and the firing data of identified grid cells of previously conducted experiments with freely moving rats is presented. The study is focused mainly on the subset of data that coincide with low speed time intervals (v<5cm/s or v<10cm/s) and it is done in the framework of recently presented theories describing the grid cell firing characteristics on the basis of an oscillatory interference model.

Top: EEG timeseries for a duration of 1s of the same trial when v<5cm/s (a) and v>5cm/s (b). Bottom: Power spectrum for the EEG of the previous trial for v<5cm/s (c) and v>5cm/s (d) with same arbitrary units. (c): Theta frequency = 8.37Hz and SNR=1.13 (d): Theta frequency = 9.57Hz and SNR=4.38.