Different neurons in different regions of human temporal lobe distinguish correct from incorrect identification or memory.

Changes in the frequency of neural activity differentiating correct from incorrect responses were identified in extracellular recordings from 113 neurons at 62 sites in temporal lobe of 26 patients undergoing awake neurosurgery, during identification and recent explicit memory for object names, text or auditory words. Activity significantly differentiating correct from incorrect performance was identified in 22 neurons at 16 sites in 12 patients. Different neurons in different regions differentiated identification or memory performance. The 13 neurons differentiating identification performance were overrepresented in medial-basal recordings, the 9 neurons differentiating memory performance in superior temporal gyrus. All memory changes occurred during encoding. For both identification and memory there was separation of neurons showing differentiation early during perception and processing from those showing differentiation late, when output should occur, perhaps reflecting response monitoring. Early differentiating neurons were located more superior-laterally within the different regions related to accuracy of identification or memory.