Neural dynamics underlying minute-timescale persistent behaviour in the human brain

Abstract

Pursuing longer-term goals relies on representations of task context that can be maintained over long periods of time and switched flexibly when goals change. Little is known about the neural substrate for maintaining context representations on the minute-timescale on which human behaviour frequently persists. Utilizing recordings in neurosurgical patients (total n = 25), we examined how neurons in the human medial frontal cortex and hippocampus persistently represent context. When cued explicitly, context was encoded in both brain areas and changed rapidly at task boundaries. The hippocampus exhibited a temporally dynamic code with fast decorrelation over time, preventing cross-temporal generalization. Medial frontal cortex exhibited a static code that decorrelated slowly, allowing generalization across time. When context needed to be inferred as a latent variable, the hippocampus encoded context with a static code. These findings reveal two formats for encoding minute-timescale context representations that were differentially engaged based on task demands. Courellis et al. examine how neurons in the human medial frontal cortex and hippocampus persistently represent context.