Hippocampal formation volume, its subregions, and its specific contributions to visuospatial memory tasks

Abstract

Visuospatial memory (VSM) is the ability to represent and manipulate visual and spatial information. This cognitive function depends on the functioning of the hippocampal formation (HF), located in the medial portion of the temporal cortex. The present study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between the volume of the HF and performance in VSM tests. High-resolution structural images (T1) and neuropsychological tests evaluating VSM were performed on 31 healthy individuals. A VSM index was created by grouping 5 variables from 5 tasks (4 from the CANTAB battery and 1 from the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test). Multiple linear regression models using the volumes of HF subregions as independent variables and the VSM index as the dependent variable were conducted to test the hypothesis that memory performance could be predicted by HF volumes. We also conducted analyses to explore the role of covariates that may mediate this relationship, specifically age and intelligence quotient (IQ). We found significant associations between the hippocampal subregions of the left hemisphere and the VSM index (F(7,22)=2.758, P=0.032, Ra2 =0.298). When IQ was accounted for as a covariate, we also found significant results for the right hemisphere (F(8,21)=2.804, P=0.028, Ra2 =0.517). We concluded that the bilateral hippocampal formations contributed to performance on VSM tasks. Also, VSM processing is essential for a diverse set of daily activities and may be influenced by demographic variables in healthy subjects.