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Association rules for rat spatial learning: the importance of the hippocampus for binding item identity with item location

Albasser, Mathieu M., Dumont, Julie R., Amin, Eman, Holmes, Joshua, Horne, Murray Ryan, Pearce, John Martindale ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6121-8650 and Aggleton, John Patrick ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5573-1308 2013. Association rules for rat spatial learning: the importance of the hippocampus for binding item identity with item location. Hippocampus 23 (12) , pp. 1162-1178. 10.1002/hipo.22154

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Abstract

Three cohorts of rats with extensive hippocampal lesions received multiple tests to examine the relationships between particular forms of associative learning and an influential account of hippocampal function (the cognitive map hypothesis). Hippocampal lesions spared both the ability to discriminate two different digging media and to discriminate two different room locations in a go/no-go task when each location was approached from a single direction. Hippocampal lesions had, however, differential effects on a more complex task (biconditional discrimination) where the correct response was signaled by the presence or absence of specific cues. For all biconditional tasks, digging in one medium (A) was rewarded in the presence of cue C, while digging in medium B was rewarded in the presences of cue D. Such biconditional tasks are “configural” as no individual cue or element predicts the solution (AC+, AD−, BD+, and BC−). When proximal context cues signaled the correct digging choice, biconditional learning was seemingly unaffected by hippocampal lesions. Severe deficits occurred, however, when the correct digging choice was signaled by distal room cues. Also, impaired was the ability to discriminate two locations when each location was approached from two directions. A task demand that predicted those tasks impaired by hippocampal damage was the need to combine specific cues with their relative spatial positions (“structural learning”). This ability makes it possible to distinguish the same cues set in different spatial arrays. Thus, the hippocampus appears necessary for configural discriminations involving structure, discriminations that potentially underlie the creation of cognitive maps.

Item Type: Article
Date Type: Publication
Status: Published
Schools: Psychology
Medicine
Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute (NMHRI)
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Uncontrolled Keywords: associative memory; biconditional learning; configural learning; hippocampal formation; spatial memory
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
ISSN: 1050-9631
Funders: Wellcome Trust
Date of First Compliant Deposit: 30 March 2016
Last Modified: 11 Oct 2023 20:46
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/51508

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