Conditional associative learning and the hippocampal system.

Full Abstract

Rats with lesions of the fornix, the dorsal hippocampus, or a control operation were trained on a spatial-visual conditional associative learning task in which they had to learn to associate particular locations with specific visual stimuli. Animals with damage of the fornix were able to learn the task at a rate comparable to that of the control animals, but the performance of the hippocampal rats was significantly impaired in comparison with that of both the control and the fornix groups. In a second experiment, lesions to the fornix or the dorsal hippocampus significantly impaired performance on a spatial working memory task, the eight-arm radial maze. These findings suggest that the interaction between the hippocampus and subcortical structures via the fornix may be critical only for certain types of spatial learning and memory.

Author information

Author/s: Sziklas, V (V); Lebel, S (S); Petrides, M (M);

Affiliation: Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. viv(-atsign-)ego.psych.mcgill.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Hippocampus (Hippocampus), published in UNITED STATES. (Language: eng)

Reference: 1998-; vol 8 (issue 2) : pp 131-7

Dates: Created 1998/06/08; Completed 1998/06/08; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 9572719, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

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