Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors

Animals can find a hidden goal in several ways. They might use a cognitive map that encodes information about the geometric relationship between the goal and two or more landmarks. Alternatively, they might use a heading vector that specifies the direction and distance of the goal from a single land...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature (London) 1998-11, Vol.396 (6706), p.75-77
Main Authors: Pearce, John M, Roberts, Amanda D. L, Good, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Animal cognition
Animals
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Brain damage
Cognition - physiology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Hippocampus - physiology
Hippocampus - physiopathology
Humanities and Social Sciences
letter
Male
Maze Learning - physiology
multidisciplinary
Orientation - physiology
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Rats
Rodents
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Swimming
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Summary:Animals can find a hidden goal in several ways. They might use a cognitive map that encodes information about the geometric relationship between the goal and two or more landmarks. Alternatively, they might use a heading vector that specifies the direction and distance of the goal from a single landmark. Rats with damage to the hippocampus have difficulty in finding a hidden goal. Here we determine which of the above strategies is affected by such damage. Rats were required to swim in a water maze to a submerged platform, which was always at the same distance and direction from a landmark. The platform and landmark remained in the same place for the four trials of each session, but they were moved to a new position at the start of a session. Rats with damage to the hippocampus found the platform more efficiently than did normal rats in the first trial of a session but, in contrast to normal rats, their performance did not improve during a session. Our results indicate that hippocampally damaged rats are able to navigate by means of heading vectors but not cognitive maps.
ISSN:0028-0836
1476-4687
DOI:10.1038/23941