Theta Phase Synchronization Is the Glue that Binds Human Associative Memory  Andrew Clouter, Kimron L. Shapiro, Simon Hanslmayr  Current Biology  Volume 27, Issue 20, Pages 3143-3148.e6 (October 2017) DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.001 Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Terms and Conditions

Figure 1 Depiction of the Experimental Paradigm Sinusoidally flickering visual (red) and auditory (blue) stimuli are presented either in synchrony or at 90-degree, 180-degree, or 270-degree phase offset. Current Biology 2017 27, 3143-3148.e6DOI: (10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.001) Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Terms and Conditions

Figure 2 Performance on the Associative Memory Task (A) Accuracy (%) of selecting the correct movies that were presented with particular sounds, when the movies and sounds were presented at each phase offset in experiment 1. (B) Sensitivity index (d′) on the synchrony judgement task, measuring the ability to discriminate between synchronous and asynchronous stimuli at theta (θ) in experiment 1 and at delta (δ), theta (θ), and alpha (α) frequencies in experiment 2. (C) Accuracy (%) of selecting the correct movies that were presented with particular sounds when the movies and sounds were flickering in synchrony (S) or out of synchrony (A; 90-degree, 180-degree, and 270-degree phase offsets combined) at theta (θ) in experiment 1 and at delta (δ), theta (θ) and alpha (α) frequencies in experiment 2. (D) The difference in accuracy between the synchronous and asynchronous conditions at theta (θ) in experiment 1 and at delta (δ), theta (θ) and alpha (α) frequencies in experiment 2. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals. Current Biology 2017 27, 3143-3148.e6DOI: (10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.001) Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Terms and Conditions

Figure 3 Results of the Analysis of the Phase Differences between Visual and Auditory Sources at Each Phase Offset Visual (red; MNI coordinates: 28, −96, −6) and auditory (blue; MNI coordinates: 64, −24, 6) sources are shown. (A) Maps of evoked power obtained from the visual only and auditory only unimodal conditions projected onto visual and auditory cortices, showing visual (red) and auditory (blue) sources. Evoked power was calculated as the difference between average evoked power between 0.75 and 2.75 s at each dipole in the auditory and visual unimodal conditions, contrasted with the average evoked power in the same condition when trials were randomly assigned to each phase offset condition (wherein the expected evoked power would be zero). (B) Top: amplitude-normalized grand-averaged signals from the visual and auditory cortices (low-pass filtered at 15 Hz) at 0-degree phase offset. The stimuli onset at time = 0. Bottom: wrapped count histogram of the instantaneous phase difference between the visual and auditory signals for the shaded time region (0.75–2.75 s). Inset: the direction and length of the mean resultant vector of the phase differences. (C–E) Same as (B), but for 90-degree (C), 180-degree (D), and 270-degree (E) phase offsets. See also Figure S2 and Table S1. Current Biology 2017 27, 3143-3148.e6DOI: (10.1016/j.cub.2017.09.001) Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd Terms and Conditions