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Updated: Jun 13, 2026
12:30
A Comprehensive Protocol for Manual Segmentation of the Medial Temporal Lobe Structures
Published on: July 2, 2014
Human medial temporal lobe damage can disrupt the perception of single objects
Andy C H Lee1, Sarah R Rudebeck
1Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3UD, United Kingdom. andy.lee@psy.ox.ac.uk
Summary
The medial temporal lobe
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Neuroimaging
Background:
- The medial temporal lobe (MTL) is traditionally considered a memory system.
- Studies suggest MTL may also play a role in higher-order perception.
- Previous research on perirhinal cortex damage and object discrimination is debated due to working memory or visual processing confounds.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of the perirhinal cortex in object perception.
- To differentiate perceptual deficits from working memory impairments.
- To provide evidence for the MTL's role in perception beyond memory.
Main Methods:
- Studied two amnesic patients with detailed neuroimaging.
- Administered a neuropsychological task with low working memory demands assessing object structural coherency.
- Utilized volumetric and functional neuroimaging, and eye-movement analyses.
Main Results:
- Only the patient with perirhinal atrophy showed an impairment in assessing object coherency.
- Neuroimaging confirmed the deficit was not due to damage in visual cortical areas.
- Eye-movement analysis revealed the patient's difficulty in consistently detecting structural incoherency.
Conclusions:
- Provides strong evidence that the perirhinal cortex subserves object perception.
- Suggests the medial temporal lobe's role in perception is not dismissible based on anatomy or working memory deficits.
- Highlights the importance of carefully designed tasks and neuroimaging in resolving the perception-memory debate.
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