Eye movements reflect memory-related theta activity in the human brain

TL;DR

The study shows that eye movements, especially during memory tasks, are linked to theta brain activity in the medial temporal lobe during human navigation.

Contribution

The study reveals a novel link between saccadic eye movements and memory-related theta activity in the human medial temporal lobe during navigation.

Findings

MTL theta power increases during saccades under memory demands.

Theta power is higher during exploratory gaze patterns and better memory performance.

Theta activity aligns with saccade timing during both memory- and visually-guided navigation.

Abstract

Numerous studies across species emphasize the importance of theta oscillations within medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions, such as the hippocampus, in relation to memory. In rodents, physical movement strongly influences theta activity, while this relationship remains more ambiguous in primates. This disparity could stem from the increased reliance on visual search in primates during navigation. To explore this, we analyzed intracranial electroencephalographic (iEEG) activity from the human MTL recorded simultaneously with body and eye movements during ambulatory navigation. We found that MTL theta power was significantly higher during periods when saccadic eye movements were taking place, and this effect was observed only during periods with overt memory demands. The largest increases occurred during saccades with more variable and exploratory gaze patterns, on trials with better memory performance, and during the early planning period of each route. The modulation was also amplified near environmental boundaries, spatial features known to anchor memory representations and guide navigation. During memory-guided navigation, theta power further tended to increase during both locomotion and stationary periods, consistent with broad engagement during active information gathering. In addition to these memory-specific effects, theta aligned its phase to saccade onset during both memory-guided and visually-guided navigation, suggesting that eye movements impose a consistent temporal structure on ongoing MTL activity. Together, these findings reveal that memory-related theta dynamics in the human MTL are tightly coupled to exploratory visual search and prospective planning during memory-guided navigation, revealing a mechanism by which saccades may help organize mnemonic computations in naturalistic settings.

Theta oscillations in the medial temporal lobe support memory, but how they relate to eye and body movements during human navigation is unclear. This study shows that theta power increases during saccades specifically under memory demands, linking exploratory gaze and planning to memory‑related dynamics in the medial temporal lobe during naturalistic navigation.

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