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Navigational skills correlate with hippocampal fractional anisotropy in humans
Author(s) -
Iaria Giuseppe,
Lanyon Linda J.,
Fox Christopher J.,
Giaschi Deborah,
Barton Jason J.S.
Publication year - 2008
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/hipo.20400
Subject(s) - fractional anisotropy , hippocampal formation , hippocampus , diffusion mri , anisotropy , orientation (vector space) , neuroscience , psychology , physics , geometry , optics , mathematics , medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology
Individuals vary widely in their ability to orient within the environment. We used diffusion tensor imaging to investigate whether this ability, as measured by navigational performance in a virtual environment, correlates with the anatomic structural properties of the hippocampus, i.e., fractional anisotropy. We found that individuals with high fractional anisotropy in the right hippocampus are (a) faster in forming a cognitive map of the environment, and (b) more efficient in using this map for the purpose of orientation, than individuals with low fractional anisotropy. These results are consistent with the role of the hippocampus in navigation, and suggest that its microstructural properties may contribute to the intersubject variability observed in spatial orientation. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.