Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors

Pearce, John M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6121-8650, Roberts, A. D. L. and Good, Mark Andrew ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1824-1203 1998. Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors. Nature 396 (6706) , pp. 75-77. 10.1038/23941

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Abstract

Animals can find a hidden goal in several ways. They might use a cognitive map that encodes information about the geometric relationship between the goal and two or more landmarks1. Alternatively, they might use a heading vector that specifies the direction and distance of the goal from a single landmark2. Rats with damage to the hippocampus have difficulty in finding a hidden goal3. Here we determine which of the above strategies is affected by such damage. Rats were required to swim in a water maze to a submerged platform, which was always at the same distance and direction from a landmark. The platform and landmark remained in the same place for the four trials of each session, but they were moved to a new position at the start of a session4. Rats with damage to the hippocampus found the platform more efficiently than did normal rats in the first trial of a session but, in contrast to normal rats, their performance did not improve during a session. Our results indicate that hippocampally damaged rats are able to navigate by means of heading vectors but not cognitive maps.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC0321 Neuroscience. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	0028-0836
Last Modified:	21 Oct 2022 09:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/35028

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