Attention to memory content enhances single-unit spike sequence fidelity in the human anterior temporal lobe.

Abstract

Attention aids in prioritizing information relevant to our present goals. For example, attention may augment sensory processing by modulating neural activity for low-level features of the attended items. Attention can also prioritize the contents of memory, facilitating our ability to remember some pieces of information while ignoring others. Here, we examine how using attention to modulate the contents of memory affects temporally organized sequences of neuronal spiking in the human anterior temporal lobe. These spike sequences represent higher-level semantic information and occur repeatedly and consistently as participants process and encode words into memory. Our results demonstrate that attention deployed to prioritize words for memory increases the consistency of these spike sequences. Further, retroactively cueing words elicits the replay of these sequences. Our data, therefore, suggest that paying attention to prioritizing semantic content for memory may improve the temporal organization of neural spiking representations of semantic information in the anterior temporal lobe.