Beyond the Cognitive Map: From Place Cells to Episodic Memory

✍ Scribed by A. David Redish

• Publisher: The MIT Press
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 423
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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.

✦ Table of Contents

Acknowledgements......Page 2
Introduction......Page 4
1. The Hippocampus Debate......Page 12
2. Navigation Overview......Page 16
3. Local View......Page 33
4. Route Navigation: Taxon and Praxic Strategies......Page 45
5. Head Direction......Page 56
6. Path Integration......Page 77
7. Goal Memory......Page 94
8. Place Code......Page 100
9. Self-Localization......Page 120
10. Multiple Maps......Page 136
11. Route Replay......Page 158
12. Consolidation......Page 173
13. Questions of Hippocampal Function......Page 183
14. The Primate Hippocampus......Page 205
15. Coda......Page 214
Appendix A: Attractor Networks......Page 223
Appendix B: Selective Experimental Review......Page 237
Appendix C: Open Questions......Page 284
Notes......Page 302
References......Page 310
Author Index......Page 384
Subject Index......Page 412