A cognitive map for object memory in the hippocampus

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Joseph Manns, Emory University; Howard Eichenbaum, Boston University
• Language: English
• Date: 2009-10
• Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2009 by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
• Final Published Version (URL): http://learnmem.cshlp.org/content/16/10/616
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Learning & Memory
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 10
• Start Page: 616
• End Page: 624
• Grant/Funding Information: This research was supported by grants NIH MH079564 (J.R.M), NIH MH51570 (H.E.), and NSF SBE0354378 (H.E.).
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Psychology, Psychobiology

Abstract

The hippocampus has been proposed to support a cognitive map, a mental representation of the spatial layout of an environment as well as the nonspatial items encountered in that environment. In the present study, we recorded simultaneously from 43 to 61 hippocampal pyramidal cells as rats performed an object recognition memory task in which novel and repeated objects were encountered in different locations on a circular track. Multivariate analyses of the neural data indicated that information about object identity was represented secondarily to the primary information dimension of object location. In addition, the neural data related to performance on the recognition memory task. The results suggested that objects were represented as points of interest on the hippocampal cognitive map and that this map was useful in remembering encounters with particular objects in specific locations.