Abstract
A century worth of research has linked multiple cognitive, perceptual and behavioral states to various brain oscillations. However, the mechanistic roles and circuit underpinnings of these oscillations remain an area of active study. In this review, we argue that the advent of optogenetic and related systems neuroscience techniques has shifted the field from correlational to causal observations regarding the role of oscillations in brain function. As a result, studying brain rhythms associated with behavior can provide insight at different levels, such as decoding task-relevant information, mapping relevant circuits or determining key proteins involved in rhythmicity. We summarize recent advances in this field, highlighting the methods that are being used for this purpose, and discussing their relative strengths and limitations. We conclude with promising future approaches that will help unravel the functional role of brain rhythms in orchestrating the repertoire of complex behavior.
Highlights
New theoretical frameworks propose that different rhythms reflect distinct lower-level functions that are flexibly employed to change specific neuronal population dynamics, based on the information processing required for the behavioral context
We recently found that the same stressor induced nucleus accumbens oscillations in the delta or the theta range depending on the strain, suggesting genetic differences play a role in frequency boundaries (Lowes et al, 2021)
Recent studies using intracortical recordings have observed that low-frequency (2–7 Hz) oscillations emerge during stressful and anxiety-like conditions in many limbic areas such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAc), amygdala and prelimbic cortex (Kumar et al, 2014; Karalis et al, 2016; Lowes et al, 2021)
Summary
In the early 20th century, Berger (1929) discovered that the electrical activity of neurons can be recorded from electrodes placed on the scalp. New theoretical frameworks propose that different rhythms reflect distinct lower-level functions (such as modulating gain or facilitating synchrony) that are flexibly employed to change specific neuronal population dynamics, based on the information processing required for the behavioral context. Defining these lower-level functions involves an ongoing challenge that represents one main approach to studying oscillations in behavior. Another fruitful approach involves using oscillations as a window into the dynamic activity of neuronal circuits that mediate specific behaviors, by determining the contribution of neural subpopulations to the oscillations that emerge during behavior. We will summarize these two approaches which, while having different scientific goals, can unravel complementary questions about brain processing
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