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A “presence/absence hypothesis” concerning hippocampal function

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 1999

David J. Murray
David J. Murray
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario K7M 3L6, [email protected]
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Abstract

According to a “presence/absence hypothesis,” the hippocampus is not necessary for the formation of learned associations between currently present stimuli and responses (as in classical conditioning), but is necessary whenever a stimulus, if it is to activate a particular response, must first activate a memory-representation of something not present in the here-and-now. The distinction between responses made to present stimuli as opposed to (memories of) absent stimuli was first stressed by Romanes (1889), but we find evidence in the target article that supports the relevance of this distinction to our understanding of hippocampal functioning.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , June 1999 , pp. 462 - 463
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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