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Updated: May 14, 2026

Longitudinal Two-Photon Imaging of Dorsal Hippocampal CA1 in Live Mice
Published on: June 19, 2019
The hippocampus, a time machine that makes errors
Gianfranco Dalla Barba1, Valentina La Corte
1Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris6, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière, UMR-S975, Paris, France. gianfranco.dallabarba@upmc.fr
Abstract:
Patients who confabulate have at least partially preserved hippocampus and make confabulatory errors in remembering their past, in orienting themselves in time and space, and in predicting their personal future. Conversely, complete bilateral hippocampal damage produces deep amnesia, temporo-spatial disorientation, and inability to predict the personal future. We propose that the hippocampus is the neural correlate of 'temporal consciousness', which is lost in amnesia and present, but malfunctioning in confabulation.
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