Data from: Precisely timed theta oscillations are selectively required during the encoding phase of memory

Brain oscillations have been hypothesized to support cognitive function by coordinating spike timing within and across brain regions, yet it is often not known when timing is either critical for neural computations or an epiphenomenon. The entorhinal cortex and hippocampus are necessary for learning and memory and exhibit prominent theta oscillations (6–9 Hz), which are controlled by pacemaker cells in the medial septal area. Here we show that entorhinal and hippocampal neuronal activity patterns were strongly entrained by rhythmic optical stimulation of parvalbumin-positive medial septal area neurons in mice. Despite strong entrainment, memory impairments in a spatial working memory task were not observed with pacing frequencies at or below the endogenous theta frequency and only emerged at frequencies ≥10 Hz and specifically when pacing was targeted to maze segments where encoding occurs. Neural computations during the encoding phase were therefore selectively disrupted by perturbations of the timing of neuronal firing patterns.See README for detailed descriptions of the dataset. Funding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: R01 NS102915Funding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: R21 MH100354Funding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: R01 NS084324Funding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: 32 GM007240TFunding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: R01 NS097772Funding provided by: National Institutes of HealthCrossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000002Award Number: R01 MH119179Electrophysiological data was collected from the hippocampus or the medial entorhinal cortex of mouse brains. Data has been appropriately filtered and downsampled for further analysis