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Role of the Hippocampal System in Conditional Motor Learning: Mapping Antecedents to Action
Author(s) -
Wise Steven P.,
Murray Elisabeth A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hippocampus
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.767
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1098-1063
pISSN - 1050-9631
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-1063(1999)9:2<101::aid-hipo3>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - hippocampal formation , macaque , neuroscience , psychology , set (abstract data type) , hippocampus , declarative memory , action (physics) , cognitive psychology , motor learning , computer science , cognition , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
Macaque monkeys can learn arbitrary mappings between stimuli and spatially directed actions (often termed conditional motor learning), and, after the development of a strong learning set, can do so in just a few trials. Ablation studies have shown that the hippocampus plus subjacent cortex is necessary for this rapid and highly flexible type of learning. We consider evidence that the arbitrary mapping function of the hippocampal system may be more general and fundamental than currently accepted and what limitations there may be, if any, on the information that it can map. Removal of the hippocampal system yields a pattern of deficits and preserved abilities that correlates remarkably closely with that found in human global amnesics, such as patient H.M., on a variety of declarative memory tasks. Thus, the rapid acquisition of arbitrary visuomotor mappings may represent an example of declarative memory in nonhuman primates. Hippocampus 1999;9:101–117. Published 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.