Dynamic Hippocampal and Prefrontal Contributions to Memory Processes and Representations Blur the Boundaries of Traditional Cognitive Domains

The hippocampus has long been known to be a critical component of the memory system involved in the formation and use of long-term declarative memory. However, recent findings have revealed that the reach of hippocampal contributions extends to a variety of domains and tasks that require the flexibl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Brain sciences 2017-07, Vol.7 (7), p.82
Main Authors: Rubin, Rachael D, Schwarb, Hillary, Lucas, Heather D, Dulas, Michael R, Cohen, Neal J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Boundaries
brain networks
Cognitive ability
Decision making
Hippocampus
Memory
patient studies
Prefrontal cortex
Review
Social behavior
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The hippocampus has long been known to be a critical component of the memory system involved in the formation and use of long-term declarative memory. However, recent findings have revealed that the reach of hippocampal contributions extends to a variety of domains and tasks that require the flexible use of cognitive and social behavior, including domains traditionally linked to prefrontal cortex (PFC), such as decision-making. In addition, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has gained traction as a necessary part of the memory system. These findings challenge the conventional characterizations of hippocampus and PFC as being circumscribed to traditional cognitive domains. Here, we emphasize that the ability to parsimoniously account for the breadth of hippocampal and PFC contributions to behavior, in terms of memory function and beyond, requires theoretical advances in our understanding of their characteristic processing features mental representations. Notably, several literatures exist that touch upon this issue, but have remained disjointed because of methodological differences that necessarily limit the scope of inquiry, as well as the somewhat artificial boundaries that have been historically imposed between domains of cognition. In particular, this article focuses on the contribution of relational memory theory as an example of a framework that describes both the representations and processes supported by the hippocampus, and further elucidates the role of the hippocampal-PFC network to a variety of behaviors.
ISSN:2076-3425
2076-3425
DOI:10.3390/brainsci7070082