The Intracranial Recordings Foundation was established in 2011 to support the organization of the Human Single Neuron conferences, the research, and the community of researchers in the field.
In the last decade we have had tremendous growth in interest and discoveries, we published the first research compilation in the field and held five big conferences.
For information and questions, email: info@humansingleunit.org or any of the Foundation Board of Directors: Moran Cerf, Ueli Rutishauser, Gabriel Kreiman,
The Intracranial Recordings Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization.
In order to be informed on future meetings, data sharing opportunities, and important updates - please sign up below:
CONFERENCES
FIRST CONFERENCE
November 10-11, 2011
New York University, NY, NY
Day 1:
Welcome address. Moran Cerf (NYU), Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard), Ueli Rutishauser (Cedars-Sinai)
Keynote address:
George Ojemann (Washington University). "50+ years of human single-neuron recording, a personal perspective."
Itzhak Fried (Tel-Aviv University): "Neurons as will and representation"
Session I: Perception and Memory I
Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard): "Selectivity, tolerance, and speed in visual object recognition"
Rodrigo Quiroga (Leicester University): "Concept cells"
Ueli Rutishauser (Cedars-Sinai): "Mechanisms of declarative memory formation in the human medial temporal lobe"
Moran Cerf (NYU): "Control of single neurons using thought"
Session II: Perception and Memory IO
Florian Mormann (Bonn): "Single-unit correlates of visual object recognition, working memory and attention in the human medial temporal lobe"
Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv (UCLA): "Neuronal correlates of memory formation and recollection in the human medial temporal lobe"
Eli Nelken (Hebrew University): "Single neuron studies of auditory signals
Michael Kahana (University of Penssylvania): "Single unit studies of human spatial navigation, episodic memory, and decision making"
Session III: Clinical, technical, and surgical aspects
Adam Mamelak (Cedars-Sinai): "Setting up a human single-unit lab: ethical, clinical, surgical and practical aspects"
Rodrigo Quiroga (Leicester University): "Spike detection and sorting"
Rick Staba (UCLA): "Electrodes for subchronic human direct brain recording"
Moran Cerf (NYU): "Decoding real-time signals"
Raffi Malach (Weizmann Institute): "What can BOLD-fMRI tell us about single-unit responses in the human brain"
Session IV: Sponsors
Casey Stengel (Neuralynx)
Andy Gotshalk (Blackrock)
Day 2:
Session IV: Motor and free will
Roy Mukamel (Tel-Aviv University): "Mirror neurons"
Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard): "Single neurons predict free will"
Wilson Truccolo (Brown): "Collective Dynamics at the level of Single Neurons in Human Neocortex"
George Ojemann (Washington University): "Language, Learning, Local Field Potentials prediction of spike timing"
Session V: Emotions and sleep
Ralph Adolphs (Caltech): "Amygdala responses to faces: Extensions to autism"
Moran Cerf (NYU): "Single neuron correlates of emotions regulation in humans"
Rick Staba (UCLA): "Human limbic single neuron firing patterns during sleep"
Session VI: Epilepsy
Sydney Cash (Harvard): Neuronalk Dynamics During Focal Seizures
Bradley Greger (University of Utah): "In Vivo extracellular recordings and in vitro intracellular recording from human epileptic neocortex: insights into the relations between inter-ictal spikes, action potentials, and high-frequency oscillations"
Session VII: The next 10 years
Keynote address:
Christof Koch (Allen Institute): "Project Mindscope. Building cortical observatories."
Panel discussion: Itzhak Fried, Moran Cerf, Gabriel Kreiman, Ueli Rutishauser
SPONSORS
SECOND CONFERENCE
November 13-14, 2014
Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD
Day 1:
Session I: Decision making
Sameer Sheth (Columbia): "The Physiology of Human Cognitive Control: Investigations in the Dorsal Anterior Cingulate Cortex"
Kareem Zaghoul (NIH): "Single unit activity in the human subthalamic nucleus during decision making"
Ziv Williams (MGH/Harvard): "Prefrontal recordings in relation to cognitive control"
Session II: Perception, recognition, faces
Katalin Gothard (U. Arizona): "Naturalistic social stimuli elicit eye-selective neural responses in the monkey amygdala"
Moran Cerf (Northwestern and NYU): "Single neuron correlates of emotion regulation in natural sensory content"
Flash poster presentation
Shaun Patel (MGH): "Rapid intermittent Deep Brain Stimulation biases behavior in financial decision-making task"
Juri Minxha (Caltech): "Fixation-aligned single cell responses in human and non-human primate amygdala"
Taufik Valiante (University of Toronto): "Laminar specific specialization in regular spiking neurons in superficial and deep cortical laminae of human cortex maintained in vitro."
Shaun Aibel Weiss (UCLA): "Searching for synchrony: a microelectrode study of neuronal spike firing during human seizures"
Posters
Session III: Clinical neuroscience (epilepsy, seizures, DBS)
Catherina Schevon (Columbia): "Unraveling the electrophysiology of human seizures"
Nathan Crone (Hopkins): "Neural population dynamics in human cortical function"
Stan Anderson (Hopkins): "Clinical and therapeutic implications of cortical neural network modeling"
Helen Mayberg (Emory): "Therapeutic Modulation of Cingulate-Cortical Oscillations in Major Depression: Groundwork for next-generation closed-loop technologies"
Conference dinner
Day 2:
Session IV: Motor and free will
Roy Mukamel (Tel-Aviv University): "Mirror neurons"
Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard): "Single neurons predict free will"
Day II. Friday, November 14, 2014
09:00 - 09:15: Welcome
Session IV: Memory
Elizabeth Buffalo (Seattle): "Neural activity related to visual exploration and navigation in primates"
Ueli Rutishauser (Cedars-Sinai/Caltech): "Neural population dynamics during declarative memory/retrieval"
Keynote address:
Larry Squire (UCSD): "Conscious and unconscious memory systems of the mammalian brain"
Session V: Memory II
John Wixted (UCSD): "Sparse and Distributed Coding of Episodic Memory in Neurons of the Human Hippocampus"
Florian Mormann (Bonn): "Single unit activity during perception and memory in the human medial temporal lobe"
Andreas Schulze-Bonhage (Freiburg) and Michael Kahana (U. Penn): "The spatial context of retrieved memories is reflected by neural activity in the human hippocampal formation"
Session V: Memory II (Cont.)
Josh Jacobs (Drexel): "Entorhinal neuronal representations in human spatial navigation"
Session VI: Neural prosthesis
Richard Andersen (Caltech): "Decoding motor imagery from the Posterior Parietal Cortex of a tetraplegic human"
Carlos Vargas-Irwin (Brown): "Exploring the neural representation of attempted, imagined, and observed actions in human motor cortex using spike train similarity analysis"
Technology presentation
Designated by primary sponsor; Neuralynx
Session VII: Speical topics
Josef Parvizi (Stanford): "Intracranial EEG and Electrical Brain Stimulation"
Ed Lein and Jonathan Ting (Allen institute): "Multimodal interrogation of the cellular and local circuit architecture of the human neocortex"
Dion Khodagholy (NYU): "NeuroGrid. Recording action potentials from the surface of the brain"
SPONSORS
THIRD CONFERENCE
November 10-11, 2016
Caltech, Pasadena, CA
Day 1:
Welcome address. Moran Cerf (NYU), Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard), Ueli Rutishauser (Cedars-Sinai)
Session I: Learning and memory
Rodrigo Quian-Quiroga (Leicester): "Concept cells and memory"
Josh Jacobs (Columbia): "Neuronal representations in spatial navigation and memory"
Gabriel Kreiman (Harvard): "Computational, behavioral and physiological mechanisms of episodic memory formation"
Nanthia Suthana (UCLA): "Neuronal characterization and modulation of human episodic memory"
Session II: Vision
Pieter Roelfsema (Amsterdam): "The activity of neurons in early visual cortex of humans and monkeys during perceptual organization"
James Bisley (UCLA): "Representations of stimulus similarity in parietal cortex"
Session III: Clinical neuroscience
William Anderson (Johns Hopkins): "Applied Computational Modeling of the Neocortex"
Nicholas Schiff (Cornell): "Cognitive motor dissociation: underlying mechanisms and challenges for establishing communication interfaces"
William Hutchison (U Toronto): "Beta activity in motor thalamus and STN during an inverted center out task"
Keynote address
Christof Koch (Allen Institute): "Characterizing neocortical mouse and human cell types"
Session IV: Funding initiatives
James Gnadt (NIH) and Kurt Thoroughman (NSF): "New and innovative federal funding opportunities"
Session V: Flash presentations
Posters
Session VI: Novel ECoG approaches
Florian Mormann (Bonn): "Single-neuron correlates of memory encoding and consolidation in the human MTL"
Ralph Adolhps (Caltech): "Concurrent electrical stimulation and fMRI to map out effective connectivity in the human brain"
Conference dinner
Day 2:
Session VII: Brain-Machine Interfaces
Richard Andersen (Caltech): "Brain-machine interfaces using the posterior parietal cortex"
Jaimie Henderson (Stanford): "Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication and Generalized Computer Use"
Elizabeth Tyler-Kabala (U. Pittsburgh): "Chronic human single unit recordings: Balance of ethical considerations and potential benefits for future users of BCI technology"
Bolu Ajiboye (Case Western): "Re-thinking Paralysis: Brain-machine interfaces for movement restoration in persons with Chronic High Tetraplegia"
Session VIII: Executive function / Decision making
Michelle Basso (UCLA): "Impaired Decision-Making in Parkinson’s Disease"
Ueli Rutishauser (Cedars-Sinai): "Mechanisms of error monitoring in human medial frontal cortex"
Session IX: Learning and memory II
Itzhak Fried (Tel-Aviv University): "Present and future landscape of human single neuron recordings"
Karem Zaghoul (NIH): "Human cortical neurons reinstate spiking activity during episodic memory encoding and retrieval"
Kari Hoffman (York): "Sharp-wave ripples during memory-guided visual search"
Keynote address:
Wolfram Schultz (Cambridge): "Well-controlled risky gambles suitable for neuronal recording studies"
Session X: Ex-vivo human recordings
Taufik Valiante (University of Toronto): "Surgery"
Huib Mansveider (University of Amsterdam): "Unique properties of neuronal microcircuits of the human neocortex"
Gold sponsor talk
Casey Stengel, (Neuralynx, Inc.): "Research in a Clinical Setting: DC Recording and Stimulation"
Session XI: Epilepsy and sleep
Yuval Nir (Tel Aviv University): "Sleep, sleepiness, and anesthesia: a view from inside"
SPONSORS
FOURTH CONFERENCE
November 1-2, 2018
Caltech, Pasadena, CA
Day 1:
Session I: Large-scale brain interaction across primates
Bijan Pesaran (NYU): Studying the primate brain on a large-scale - imaging, electrophysiology and fmri.
Christopher Petkov (Newcastle University): Mental structures and the primate brain: From human ECoG to monkey neurons
Charles Schroeder/Idan Tal (Columbia): Temporal structure of transient events as a measure of cortical interactions.
Keynote address:
Richard Andersen (Caltech): "Developing a bidirectional human-machine interface that can read out intentions and write in sensations"
Session II: Decision making
Joshua Gold (University of Pennsylvania): "Basal ganglia recordings in human and non-human primates"
Ziv Williams (MGH): "Single neuronal correlates of social decisions in the human prefrontal cortex"
Sameer Sheth (Baylor): "Prominent temporal coding of decision variables in human prefrontal cortex"
Session III: Brain initiatives
Itzhak Fried (UCLA): "From human single neuron recordings to cognitive prediction and modulation"
Jim Gnadt (NIH/NINDS): "Research Opportunities in Humans with the NIH BRAIN Initiative"
Flash presentations
Alexander Unruh (U Bonn): "Decision confidence is represented at the single-unit level in the human medial temporal lobe"
Juri Minxha (Caltech): "Phase-locking of neurons in human medial frontal cortex to hippocampal theta is engaged by declarative memory-based decisions"
Marije Ter Wal (University of Birmingham): "Exploring the "what", "when" and "where" of memory reinstatement in human intracranial EEG recordings
Jan Kaminski (Cedars-Sinai): Evidence for domain-specific working memory buffers from human single-neuron recordings
Session IV: Ex-vivo study of human single cells
Jonathan Ting (Allen Institute): "Conserved and divergent features of human versus mouse neocortical cell types"
Mark Harnett (MIT): "Enhanced dendritic compartmentalization in human cortical neurons"
Viren Jain (Google AI): "High-throughput synapse-resolution connectomics in fly, bird, and human brains"
Taufik Valiante (University of Toronto): "Divergent electrophysiological properties of layer 2/3 and layer 5 pyramidal neurons in human temporal cortex"
Conference dinner
Day 2:
Session V: Language
Edward Chang (UCSF): "Encoding movement in speech motor cortex"
Mark Richardson (University of Pittsburgh): "Subthalamic nucleus unit activity during speech production"
Session VI: Epilepsy
Sydney Cash (MGH): "The role of inhibitory and excitatory neurons in sculpting seizure initiation and propagation"
Catherine Schevon (Columbia): "Cell-type specific activity at seizure onset in humans"
Keynote address:
Loren Frank (UCSF): "Neural substrates of prospection and new tools for understanding them"
Session V: New electrodes / technology
Shadi Dayeh (UCSD): "Scalable and Minimally Invasive Technologies for Recording Surface Units and Intracellular Potentials at Depth in Intact Brains"
Michael Roukes (Caltech): "Open Neurotech Alliance – Towards Next-Generation Neurotechnology in Humans"
Casey Stengel (Neuralynx): "Recording and Stimulation in Real-Time."
Session VI: Memory / spatial cognitioin
Robert Knight (UC Berkeley): "Neural Networks and Human Behavior"
Nanthia Suthana (UCLA): "Single neuron and oscillatory correlates of real-world spatial navigation in humans"
Simon Hanslmayr (University of Birmingham): "A synchronized hippocampus and a desynchronized neocortex underlie human episodic memory formation"
Zoltan Nadasdy (UT Austin/HCA): "Spike-phase grids in the human entorhinal cortex"
Dion Khodagholy (Columbia): "Learning-enhanced coupling between ripple oscillations"
Session VII: Faces and attention
Doris Tsao (Caltech): "The macaque face processing system"
Shuo Wang (WVU): "Single-neuron representation of goal-directed signals during visual search"
Thilo Womelsdorf (Vanderbilt): "Cross-level Interactions of Distinct Cell Types to Fronto-Striatal Network Activity During Attention and Learning"
SPONSORS
FIFTH CONFERENCE
November 13, 2020
Online
Session I: Large-scale brain interaction across primates
Bijan Pesaran (NYU): Studying the primate brain on a large-scale - imaging, electrophysiology and fmri.
Keynote address:
Elizabeth Buffalo (UW). "Time, Space, and Memory in the Primate Hippocampus"
NIH BRAIN Initiative
John Ngai (BRAIN initiative), Karen David (NINDS), Jim Gnadt (NINDS)
Session I: Everything
Ashley Feinsinger (UCLA): "What's the value of participant engagement in basic human neuroscience?"
Kareem Zaghloul (NIH/NINDS): "Replay of cortical spiking sequences during episodic memory retrieval"
Christof Koch (Allen Institute): "Morphological, electrical and transcriptional characterization of human neocortical supragranular pyramidal neurons"
Yuval Nir (Tel-Aviv University): "Auditory processing in sleep and anesthesia: insights from single-neuron human studies"
Krishna Shenoy (Stanford University): "Cortical basis of speech and handwriting in humans for neural interfaces"
Session II: New technology
Nanthia Suthana (UCLA). "Recording single neurons in the human brain during naturalistic behaviors"
Mikhail Shapiro (Caltech): "Ultrasonic Imaging and Control of Neural Activity"
Session III: Memory and computational methods
Lukas Kunz (Freiburg): "A neural code for egocentric spatial maps in the human medial temporal lobe"
Salman Qasim (Columbia): "Phase precession in the human hippocampus and entorhinal cortex"
Jie Zheng (Harvard): "Event boundaries shape episodic memory"
Gray Umbach (UT Southwestern): "Time cells in the human medial temporal lobe aid episodic memory"
Kanaka Rajan (Mount Sinai): "Inferring brain-wide interactions using data-constrained neural network models"
Session IV: Brain-Macahine Interfaces
Sofia Sakellaridi (Caltech): "Understanding learning mechanisms in the human motor system using brain-machine interface in patients with tetraplegia"
Angelica Herrera (University of Pittsburgh): "Effect of object presence and grasp intention on M1 activity during planning and movement execution"
Session V: Decision making
Tomas Aquino (Caltech): "Correlating human vmPFC and amygdala neurons with value and uncertainty in the explore-exploit dilemma"
Habiba Azab (Baylor): "Algorithmic place cells in human hippocampus"
Clayton Mosher (Cedars-Sinai): "Distinct roles of dorsal and ventral subthalamic neurons in action selection and cancellation"
Session VI: Epilepsy and ex-vivo human slices
Meanhwan Kim (Allen Institute): "Molecular and genetic approaches for assaying human cell type synaptic connectivity"
Elliot Smith (University of Utah): "Human interictal epileptiform discharges are traveling waves reflecting ictal self-organization"
BOOK
"Single Neuron Studies of the Human Brain"
Receive 30% discount on the book here with code MHSN30.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Open Letter to a Beginning Researcher in the Field of Human Single Neuron Investigations
Introduction
Itzhak Fried, Ueli Rutishauser, Moran Cerf, and Gabriel Kreiman
Fifty-plus Years of Human Single Neuron Recordings: A Personal Perspective
George Ojemann
Methodological, Ethical, and Clinical Consideration
The Neurosurgical Theater of the Mind
Itzhak Fried
Ethical and Practical Considerations for Human Microelectrode Recording Studies
Adam N. Mamelak
Subchronic In Vivo Human Microelectrode Recording
Richard J. Staba, Tony A. Fields, Eric J. Behnke, and Charles L. Wilson
Data Analysis Techniques for Human Microwire Recordings: Spike Detection and Sorting, Decoding, Relation between Neurons and Local Field Potentials
Ueli Rutishauser, Moran Cerf, and Gabriel Kreiman
Cognitive Neuroscience Findings and Insights
Single Neuron Correlates of Declarative Memory Formation and Retrieval in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe
Ueli Rutishauser, Erin M. Schuman, and Adam N. Mamelak
Visual Cognitive Adventures of Single Neurons in the Human Medial Temporal Lobe
Florian Mormann, Matias J. Ison, Rodrigo Quian Quiroga, Christof Koch, Itzhak Fried, and Gabriel Kreiman
Navigating Our Environment: Insights from Single Neuron Recordings in the Human Brain
Nanthia Suthana and Itzhak Fried
Microelectrode Studies of Human Sleep
Yuval Nir, Michel Le Van Quyen, Giulio Tononi, and Richard J. Staba
Studying Thoughts and Deliberations Using Single Neuron Recordings in Humans
Moran Cerf, Hagar Gelbard-Sagiv, and Itzhak Fried
Human Single Neuron Reward Processing in the Basal Ganglia and Anterior Cingulate
Shaun R. Patel, Demetrio Sierra-Mercado, Clarissa Martinez-Rubio, and Emad N. Eskandar
Electrophysiological Responses to Faces in the Human Amygdala
Ralph Adolphs, Hiroto Kawasaki, Oana Tudusciuc, Matthew Howard III, Chris Heller, William Sutherling, Linda Philpott, Ian Ross, Adam N. Mamelak, and Ueli Rutishauser
Human Lateral Temporal Cortical Single Neuron Activity during Language, Recent Memory, and Learning
George Ojemann
Clinical Neuroscience
Microelectrode Recordings in Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery
C. Rory Goodwin, Travis S. Tierney, Frederick A. Lenz, and William S. Anderson
Microstimulation Effects on Thalamic Neurons
Sanjay Patra, William D. Hutchison, Clement Hamani, Mojgan Hodaie, Andres M. Lozano, and Jonathan O. Dostrovsky
Human Single Neuron Activity for Reach and Grasp Motor Prostheses
Arjun K. Bansal
Human Single Neuron Recording as an Approach to Understand the Neurophysiology of Seizure Generation
Andreas Schulze-Bonhage and Rüdiger Köhling
Conclusion
The Next Ten Years and Beyond
Ueli Rutishauser, Itzhak Fried, Moran Cerf, and Gabriel Kreiman
RESEARCH
Features research from members of the community
2021
Time cells in the human hippocampus and entorhinal cortex support episodic memory
Gray Umbach, Pranish Kantak, Joshua Jacobs, Michael Kahana, Brad E Pfeiffer, Michael Sperling, Bradley Lega, PNAS 117 (45), 28463-28474.
Abstract
The organization of temporal information is critical for the encoding and retrieval of episodic memories. In the rodent hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, evidence accumulated over the last decade suggests that populations of “time cells” in the hippocampus encode temporal information. We identify time cells in humans using intracranial microelectrode recordings obtained from 27 human epilepsy patients who performed an episodic memory task. We show that time cell activity predicts the temporal organization of retrieved memory items. We also uncover evidence of ramping cell activity in humans, which represents a complementary type of temporal information. These findings establish a cellular mechanism for the representation of temporal information in the human brain needed to form episodic memories.
2020
Single-neuronal predictions of others’ beliefs in humans
Mohsen Jamali, Benjamin L. Grannan, Evelina Fedorenko, Rebecca Saxe, Raymundo Báez-Mendoza & Ziv M. Williams, NATURE 2021, 1-5.
Abstract
Human social behaviour crucially depends on our ability to reason about others. This capacity for theory of mind has a vital role in social cognition because it enables us not only to form a detailed understanding of the hidden thoughts and beliefs of other individuals but also to understand that they may differ from our own1–3. Although a number of areas in the human brain have been linked to social reasoning4,5 and its disruption across a variety of psychosocial disorders6–8, the basic cellular mechanisms that underlie human theory of mind remain undefined. Here, using recordings from single cells in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, we identify neurons that reliably encode information about others’ beliefs across richly varying scenarios and that distinguish self- from other-belief-related representations. By further following their encoding dynamics, we show how these cells represent the contents of the others’ beliefs and accurately predict whether they are true or false. We also show how they track inferred beliefs from another’s specific perspective and how their activities relate to behavioural performance. Together, these findings reveal a detailed cellular process in the human dorsomedial prefrontal cortex for representing another’s beliefs and identify candidate neurons that could support theory of mind.
COMMUNITY
NEXT MEETING: MARCH 16, 2021
email: info@humansingleunit.org for additional details