Hippocampus and Memory: BBS Call for Commentators

[Stevan Harnad]

Below is the abstract of a forthcoming target article by H. EICHENBAUM
et al. on TWO COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE HIPPOCAMPAL MEMORY SYSTEM that
has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
(BBS), an international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer
Commentary on important and controversial current research in the
biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be current BBS
Associates or nominated by a current BBS Associate. To be considered as
a commentator for this article, to suggest other appropriate
commentators, or for information about how to become a BBS Associate,
please send email to:

harnad at clarity.princeton.edu  or harnad at pucc.bitnet        or write to:
BBS, 20 Nassau Street, #240, Princeton NJ 08542  [tel: 609-921-7771]

To help us put together a balanced list of commentators, please give some
indication of the aspects of the topic on which you would bring your
areas of expertise to bear if you were selected as a commentator. An
electronic draft of the full text is available for inspection by anonymous
ftp according to the instructions that follow after the abstract.
____________________________________________________________________

    TWO COMPONENT FUNCTIONS OF THE HIPPOCAMPAL MEMORY SYSTEM 

                Howard Eichenbaum
                Center for Behavioral Neuroscience
                State University of New York at Stony Brook 
                Stony Brook, NY 11794
                (516) 632-9482
                heichen at neuro.som.sunysb.edu

                Tim Otto
                Department of Psychology
                Busch Campus
                Rutgers University
                New Bruswick, NJ 08903

                Neal J. Cohen
                Beckman Institute & Department of Psychology
                University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 
                405 N. Mathews Avenue
                Urbana, IL 61801

    KEY WORDS: Amnesia, Hippocampus, Parahippocampal Region, Entorhinal
    Cortex, Learning, Memory, Representation.

    ABSTRACT: The hippocampal system contributes to (1) the temporary
    maintenance of memories and (2) the processing of a particular type
    of memory representation. The evidence from amnesia suggests that
    these two hippocampus-dependent memory functions are orthogonal.
    Neuropsychological, anatomical and physiological evidence supports
    a two-component model of cortico-hippocampal interactions:
    Neocortical association areas maintain short-term memories for
    specific items and events prior to hippocampal processing and they
    provide the final repositories of long-term memory. The
    parahippocampal region supports intermediate-term storage of
    individual items and the hippocampal formation itself organizes
    memories according to relevant relationships among items.
    Hippocampal-cortical interactions lead to strong and persistent
    memories for events and their constituent elements and
    interrelations, together with a capacity for flexibly producing
    memories across a wide range of circumstances.

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this article, an electronic draft is retrievable by anonymous ftp from
princeton.edu according to the instructions below (the filename is
bbs.bridgeman). Please do not prepare a commentary on this draft. Just
let us know, after having inspected it, what relevant expertise you
feel you would bring to bear on what aspect of the article.
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