Beyond the Cognitive Map: From Place Cells to Episodic Memory

Front Cover
MIT Press, 1999 - Medical - 420 pages

There are currently two major theories about the role of the hippocampus, a distinctive structure in the back of the temporal lobe. One says that it stores a cognitive map, the other that it is a key locus for the temporary storage of episodic memories. A. David Redish takes the approach that understanding the role of the hippocampus in space will make it possible to address its role in less easily quantifiable areas such as memory. Basing his investigation on the study of rodent navigation--one of the primary domains for understanding information processing in the brain--he places the hippocampus in its anatomical context as part of a greater functional system.

Redish draws on the extensive experimental and theoretical work of the last 100 years to paint a coherent picture of rodent navigation. His presentation encompasses multiple levels of analysis, from single-unit recording results to behavioral tasks to computational modeling. From this foundation, he proposes a novel understanding of the role of the hippocampus in rodents that can shed light on the role of the hippocampus in primates, explaining data from primate studies and human neurology. The book will be of interest not only to neuroscientists and psychologists, but also to researchers in computer science, robotics, artificial intelligence, and artificial life.

From inside the book

Contents

The Hippocampus Debate
1
Navigation Overview
5
Local View
23
Taxon and Praxic Strategies
35
Head Direction
47
Path Integration
69
Goal Memory
87
Place Code
93
Consolidation
167
Questions of Hippocampal Function
177
The Primate Hippocampus
199
Coda
209
A Attractor Networks
219
B Selective Experimental Review
233
Open Questions
281
Notes
299

SelfLocalization
113
Multiple Maps
129
Route Replay
151

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Page 353 - The neural network of the basal ganglia as revealed by the study of synaptic connections of identified neurones. Trends Neumsci.

About the author (1999)

A. David Redish is Distinguished McKnight University Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota and the author of Beyond the Cognitive Map (MIT Press).

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