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Hippocampal contributions to value-based learning: Converging evidence from fMRI and amnesia
Daniela J Palombo1,2,3, Scott M Hayes4,5,6, Allison G Reid4
1VA Boston Healthcare System, Brockton, MA, USA. Daniela.palombo@psych.ubc.ca.
Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience
|February 16, 2019
Summary
The human hippocampus is crucial for value-based learning, not just memory. Damage to the hippocampus impairs the ability to learn reward contingencies, highlighting its essential role in goal-directed behavior.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Psychology
- Decision Science
Background:
- The hippocampus is primarily known for episodic memory functions.
- Emerging evidence suggests its involvement in motivation and decision-making.
- The role of the hippocampus in value-based learning remains unclear, despite its association with the striatal system.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the necessity of the hippocampus in value-based learning.
- To clarify the hippocampus's contribution to learning reward contingencies.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in healthy participants.
- Neuropsychological assessment of amnesic patients with medial temporal lobe damage, including hippocampal lesions.
- A probabilistic learning task assessing value-based contingency learning.
Main Results:
- fMRI revealed hippocampal and ventral striatal activation during value-based learning in healthy individuals.
- Amnesic patients with hippocampal damage failed to learn value-based contingencies.
- Impairments were not attributable to perceptual or memory load deficits.
Conclusions:
- Hippocampal engagement is necessary for value-based learning.
- These findings expand the known functions of the hippocampus beyond memory.
- The hippocampus plays a broader role in goal-directed behaviors than previously understood.
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