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Implications of animal object memory research for human amnesia
Boyer D Winters1, Lisa M Saksida, Timothy J Bussey
1Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. bwinters@uoguelph.ca
Neuropsychologia
|February 6, 2010
Summary
Animal models of human amnesia reveal dissociable roles for medial temporal lobe structures like the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex in memory. These models highlight specific memory facets, not global amnesia, depending on brain region damage.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Memory Research
Background:
- Medial temporal lobe damage in humans causes severe memory impairment.
- Animal object recognition tests model human amnesia, particularly in patient HM.
- Tasks like delayed nonmatching-to-sample assess object memory in primates and rodents.
Purpose of the Study:
- Review research on object recognition memory tasks in primates and rats.
- Assess the neurobiological bases of amnesia using these animal models.
- Implicate medial temporal lobe structures in memory and amnesic syndromes.
Main Methods:
- Review of existing research using object recognition memory tasks.
- Analysis of studies involving non-human primates and rats.
- Examination of neurobiological bases of amnesia.
Main Results:
- Medial temporal lobe structures (hippocampus, perirhinal cortex) have dissociable memory functions.
- Specific structures contribute to tasks based on information processing.
- Complex memory tasks recruit medial temporal lobe structures interactively.
Conclusions:
- Object recognition memory tasks model specific facets, not global amnesia, of human declarative memory.
- Heterogeneity within the medial temporal lobe influences amnesia.
- Amnesia's nature depends on the specific medial temporal lobe regions affected.
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