Abstract
The hippocampus has long been known to be a critical component of the memory system involved in the formation and use of long-term declarative memory. However, recent findings have revealed that the reach of hippocampal contributions extends to a variety of domains and tasks that require the flexible use of cognitive and social behavior, including domains traditionally linked to prefrontal cortex (PFC), such as decision-making. In addition, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has gained traction as a necessary part of the memory system. These findings challenge the conventional characterizations of hippocampus and PFC as being circumscribed to traditional cognitive domains. Here, we emphasize that the ability to parsimoniously account for the breadth of hippocampal and PFC contributions to behavior, in terms of memory function and beyond, requires theoretical advances in our understanding of their characteristic processing features and mental representations. Notably, several literatures exist that touch upon this issue, but have remained disjointed because of methodological differences that necessarily limit the scope of inquiry, as well as the somewhat artificial boundaries that have been historically imposed between domains of cognition. In particular, this article focuses on the contribution of relational memory theory as an example of a framework that describes both the representations and processes supported by the hippocampus, and further elucidates the role of the hippocampal–PFC network to a variety of behaviors.
Highlights
Over the past several decades, cognitive neuroscience has greatly improved our understanding of the brain systems involved in human memory, in terms of both the contributions of specific regions and the interactions among them
We propose that theoretical advances are required for an improved understanding of the characteristic representations and processes supported by the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex (PFC)
We focus on evidence that the representations and processes supported by the hippocampus and PFC interact in an iterative manner, blurring the lines between encoding and retrieval in memory, and facilitating the performance of a wide range of behaviors outside of memory
Summary
Over the past several decades, cognitive neuroscience has greatly improved our understanding of the brain systems involved in human memory, in terms of both the contributions of specific regions and the interactions among them. Our understanding of the contribution of the MTL, and in particular the hippocampus, to memory originated from famous studies with patient H.M. and others like him that had relatively circumscribed MTL damage These patients were severely impaired in their ability to form new long-term declarative memories, while other domains of cognition (i.e., intellect, language, executive function) and other kinds of memory (i.e., procedural memory, short-term and working memory) initially seemed to remain intact [6,7,8]. Initial accounts of these changes may be exaggerated, there are a number of recent findings consistent with this report that attribute PFC damage to severe behavioral dysregulation and impairments in executive function and decision-making abilities [10,11] These early studies were pioneering in conceptualizing structure–function relationships in the brain. As discussed one barrier to achieving a parsimonious view of hippocampal function has been that human and animal studies historically emphasize different aspects of its function, and recent attempts to reconcile these literatures has resulted in considerable progress toward developing a comprehensive theory of hippocampal function
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