Co-occurring ripple oscillations facilitate neuronal interactions between cortical locations in humans

Synchronous bursts of high frequency oscillations (‘ripples’) are hypothesized to contribute to binding by facilitating integration of neuronal firing across cortical locations. We tested this hypothesis using local field-potentials and single-unit firing from four 96-channel microelectrode arrays in supragranular cortex of 3 patients. Neurons in co-rippling locations showed increased short-latency co-firing, prediction of each-other’s firing, and co-participation in neural assemblies. Effects were similar for putative pyramidal and interneurons, during NREM sleep and waking, in temporal and Rolandic cortices, and at distances up to 16mm. Increased co-prediction during co-ripples was maintained when firing-rate changes were equated, and were strongly modulated by ripple phase. Co-ripple enhanced prediction is reciprocal, synergistic with local upstates, and further enhanced when multiple sites co-ripple. Together, these results support the hypothesis that trans-cortical co-ripples increase the integration of neuronal firing of neurons in different cortical locations, and do so in part through phase-modulation rather than unstructured activation.