How hippocampal memory shapes, and is shaped by, attention

Abstract

Attention has historically been studied in the context of sensory systems, with the aim of understanding how information in the environment affects the deployment of attention and how attention in turn affects the perception of this information. More recently, there has been burgeoning interest in how long-term memory can serve as a cue for attention, and ways in which attention influences long-term memory encoding and retrieval. In this chapter, we highlight this emerging body of human behavioral, neuroimaging, and neuropsychological work that elucidates these bidirectional interactions between attention and memory. Special emphasis will be given to recent findings on how the quintessential “memory system” in the brain—the hippocampus-influences and is influenced by attention.