Psychological theories of hippocampal function

Abstract

Theories and models of the hippocampus have typically linked this structure to various psychological processes, for example, internal inhibition, response inhibition, attentional shift, at-tentional “tuning out,” recognition memory, long-term memory selection, contextual retrieval, spatial memory, working memory, and chunking. Predictions made from various models are contrasted with reproducible hippocampal lesion data obtained from various experimental paradigms: habituation to novelty, acquisition, extinction, discrimination reversal, spontaneous alternation, latent inhibition, blocking, overshadowing, passive avoidance, maze learning, working memory procedures, latent learning, retrograde spatial memory, and conditioned inhibition. No single model correctly predicts all the empirical evidence. It is suggested that the hippocampal function, rather than subserving a unitary psychological function, might be better described as a computational-representational activity. © 1984, Psychonomic Society, Inc.. All rights reserved.