Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Role of Hippocampus in Memory01:19

Role of Hippocampus in Memory

The hippocampus, a critical brain structure, plays an essential role in memory processing, particularly in the formation and retrieval of memory. This small, seahorse-shaped region is located within the medial temporal lobe, with one hippocampus in each brain hemisphere. Experimental studies involving lesions in the hippocampi of rats have demonstrated significant impairments in tasks such as object recognition and maze navigation, indicating the hippocampus involvement in both recognition and...
Reason and Intuition01:37

Reason and Intuition

The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the brain can only use...
Sedatives and Hypnotics: Overview01:23

Sedatives and Hypnotics: Overview

Sedatives are drugs that alleviate anxiety, while hypnotics induce sleep. Both classes of medication suppress neuronal activity, leading to a calming effect for sedatives and facilitating sleep for hypnotics.
Sedative-hypnotics are categorized into barbiturates, benzodiazepines (BZDs), and non-benzodiazepines or Z-drugs. These drugs work by suppressing central nervous system activity, and this suppression is dose-dependent. Older sedative medications, like barbiturates, follow a linear curve in...
Sedatives and Hypnotics Drugs: Benzodiazepines01:19

Sedatives and Hypnotics Drugs: Benzodiazepines

Benzodiazepines have both sedative and hypnotic properties. They include compounds such as diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax). Structurally, their cores are similar, consisting of the fusion of a benzene ring and a diazepine ring, but they share a common mechanism of action in the central nervous system (CNS).
Benzodiazepines work by enhancing the effects of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA. They bind to the GABAA receptor, increasing its affinity for GABA, which opens chloride...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Distinct Attentional Control Profiles during Language Comprehension in Major Mental Health Disorders.

Biological psychiatry. Cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging·2026
Same author

HSSM: A Widely Applicable Toolbox for Hierarchical Bayesian Neurocognitive Modeling.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Synaptic Plasticity as a Function of the Temporal Derivative.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Impacted and preserved sub-domains of cognitive control in schizophrenia.

Neuropsychologia·2026
Same author

Increased Reporting of Speech in Degraded Stimuli in Schizophrenia: A Case Control Study with Sine-Wave-Speech.

Schizophrenia bulletin·2026
Same author

Efficient Inference in First Passage Time Models.

Statistics and computing·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Hippocampal Insulin Microinjection and In vivo Microdialysis During Spatial Memory Testing
10:32

Hippocampal Insulin Microinjection and In vivo Microdialysis During Spatial Memory Testing

Published on: January 11, 2013

Midazolam, hippocampal function, and transitive inference: Reply to Greene.

Michael J Frank1, Randall C O'Reilly, Tim Curran

  • 1Dept of Psychology and Program in Neuroscience, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA. mfrank@u.arizona.edu.

Behavioral and Brain Functions : BBF
|February 1, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Transitive inference (TI) performance can be enhanced by disrupting hippocampal function, suggesting a greater reliance on the striatal dopamine system for generalization. This challenges traditional views of TI

More Related Videos

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents
09:01

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents

Published on: July 8, 2015

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Hippocampal Insulin Microinjection and In vivo Microdialysis During Spatial Memory Testing
10:32

Hippocampal Insulin Microinjection and In vivo Microdialysis During Spatial Memory Testing

Published on: January 11, 2013

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents
09:01

The Double-H Maze: A Robust Behavioral Test for Learning and Memory in Rodents

Published on: July 8, 2015

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Neuropharmacology

Background:

  • Transitive inference (TI) assesses generalization of learned knowledge, traditionally linked to hippocampal function.
  • Simple reinforcement learning, potentially involving the striatal dopamine system, may explain TI performance without critical hippocampal involvement.
  • Previous research suggested benzodiazepines like midazolam impair hippocampal function.

Discussion:

  • Midazolam's enhancement of implicit TI performance, despite impairing memory recall, supports a shift towards striatal recruitment.
  • This pharmacological evidence suggests that hippocampal dysfunction can paradoxically facilitate generalization via striatal pathways.
  • A critique questioned the pharmacological assumptions, but the proposed mechanism remains the most parsimonious explanation.

Key Insights:

  • Disrupting hippocampal function with midazolam enhanced implicit transitive inference performance in humans.
  • This enhancement is attributed to a compensatory recruitment of the striatal dopamine system for generalization.
  • The findings challenge the necessity of intact hippocampal function for certain forms of learned generalization.

Outlook:

  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the roles of the hippocampus and striatum in transitive inference.
  • Investigating other pharmacological agents and cognitive tasks can validate the proposed striatal recruitment hypothesis.
  • Understanding these neural mechanisms has implications for learning and memory disorders.