Pearce, John M., Roberts, Amanda. D. L. and Good, Mark (1998) Hippocampal lesions disrupt a cognitive map but not vector encoding. Nature, 396 (6706). pp. 75-77. ISSN 0028-0836
Full content URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/23941
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Hippocampal lesions disrupt a cognitive map but not vector encoding (Nature).pdf - Whole Document Restricted to Registered users only 238kB |
Item Type: | Article |
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Item Status: | Live Archive |
Abstract
Animals can find a hidden goal in several ways. They might use a cognitive map that encodes information about the geometric relationship between the goal and two or more landmarks. Alternatively, they might use a heading vector that specifies the direction and distance of the goal from a single landmark. Rats with damage to the hippocampus have difficulty in finding a hidden goal. Here we determine which of the above strategies is affected by such damage. Rats were required to swim in a water maze to a submerged platform, which was always at the same distance and direction from a landmark. The platform and landmark remained in the same place for the four trials of each session, but they were moved to a new position at the start of a session. Rats with damage to the hippocampus found the platform more efficiently than did normal rats in the first trial of a session but, in contrast to normal rats, their performance did not improve during a session. Our results indicate that hippocampally damaged rats are able to navigate by means of heading vectors but not cognitive maps.
Keywords: | Cognitive Map, Heading Vectors, Hippocampus, Watermaze, Navigation |
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Subjects: | C Biological Sciences > C120 Behavioural Biology C Biological Sciences > C860 Neuropsychology |
Divisions: | College of Social Science > School of Psychology |
ID Code: | 15896 |
Deposited On: | 31 Oct 2014 12:26 |
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