Memory, Amnesia, and the Hippocampal System (Bradford Books) [Paperback]

Neal J. Cohen (Author), Howard Eichenbaum (Author)

Book Description

Series: Bradford Books | Publication Date: September 25, 1995

In this sweeping synthesis, Neal J. Cohen and Howard Eichenbaum bring together converging findings from neuropsychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science that provide the critical clues and constraints for developing a more comprehensive understanding of memory. Specifically, they offer a cognitive neuroscience theory of memory that accounts for the nature of memory impairment exhibited in human amnesia and animal models of amnesia, that specifies the functional role played by the hippocampal system in memory, and that provides further understanding of the componential structure of memory.The authors' central thesis is that the hippocampal system mediates a capacity for declarative memory, the kind of memory that in humans supports conscious recollection and the explicit and flexible expression of memories. They argue that this capacity emerges from a representation of critical relations among items in memory, and that such a relational representation supports the ability to make inferences and generalizations from memory, and to manipulate and flexibly express memory in countless ways. In articulating such a description of the fundamental nature of declarative representation and of the mnemonic capabilities to which it gives rise, the authors' theory constitutes a major extension and elaboration of the earlier procedural-declarative account of memory.Support for this view is taken from a variety of experimental studies of amnesia in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents. Additional support is drawn from observations concerning the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of the hippocampal system. The data taken from divergent literatures are shown to converge on the central theme of hippocampal involvement in declarative memory across species and across behavioral paradigms.Neal J. Cohen is Assistant Professor in the Amnesia Research Laboratory at Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, and in the Department of Psychology at the University of Illinois. Howard Eichenbaum is Professor of Psychology and Neurobiology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a serious and interesting attempt to organize a substantialportion of the literature on the functional role of the hippocampalformation. Neuropsychologists and others interested in the brainand human cognition will want to make sure they put their declarativememory to work on the arguments put forward in this book." Daniel P. Kimble, Science

"This is a serious and interesting attempt to organize a substantial portion of the literature on the functional role of the hippocampal formation. Neuropsychologists and others interested in the brain and human cognition will want to make sure they put their declarative memory to work on the arguments put forward in this book." Daniel P. Kimble Science

About the Author

Howard Eichenbaum is Professor of Biological Sciences at Wellesley College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (September 25, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262531321
• ISBN-13: 978-0262531320
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,564,853 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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3.0 out of 5 stars "How the Sea Horse (Hippocampus) Facilitates LTM", November 23, 2005

By 

Russell A. Rohde MD "Owl" (West Covina, California USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Memory, Amnesia, and the Hippocampal System (Bradford Books) (Paperback)

"Memory, Amnesia, & The Hippocampal System", N. Cohen, H. Eichenbaum, MA, MIT Press, 1993/4 ISBN 0-262-03203-1, SC, 330 pg. plus 2 pg. Cont., 4 pg. Pref., 13 Chaps., 4 pg. Notes, 32 pg. Ref., 4 pg. Index. 9" x 6 3/4"

A technical book offering "a high-level theory" derived from animal & human studies on declarative memory mechanisms with especial reference to the hippocampus (Sea Horse or Sea Monster), orchestrating brain's functional hardware (architecture) with instantiated memory. Authors posited the role of hippocampus in memory & defined memory impairment(s) in amnesia(s) to provide a better understanding of normal memory (how we learn, remember & forget).

The mainstay of the book & thesis is generated from an oft-quoted
& well published case of H.M. who at age 27, in 1953 underwent bilateral resection of the hippocampal formation (including the amygdala & mulimodal association areas of the temporal cortex) to relieve major bi-temporal lobe seizures of 10 years duration consequent to bicycle accident at age 9 (H.M. was a pedestrian).

The useful but brief sketching of memories is made with distinctions between declarative vs procedural, semantic vs episodic, & explicit vs implicit & a description of "mediational" or "evaluative" memories. We are provided micro-photographs of human & animal hippocampi; cartoons of hippocampi neuronal cell firings; & etiologies of amnesias, both hippocampal & those non-hippocampal (Korsakoff's, AD, PD, & Huntington's), in declarative memory domain. Discussion is provided on "Place Cell" pyramidal cell firings during spatial exploration, & on Place Fields, an abstract spatial "think"(or thought) of position
(not sensory).

Of interest was discussion of Tower of Hanoi puzzle, cognition of Fibonacci sequencing. mirror & mirror-reversed text studies, & acknowledgement of Morton's memory representations of linguistic objects as "logogens" and visual objects as "pictogens" for memory refreshing. Authors conclude the hippocampus "apparently" stores temporary representations permitting later access or reconstructions (recall) of declarative memory -- that the permanment representation (memory) resides in the neocortex, & that the hippocampus network fashions a "memory space" for the encoding & updating of relations of fresh items -- i.e., the reinstantiations which "enable memory consolidation." Authors share mixed thoughts about renaming procedural memory as that of nondeclarative memory as overly phenomenological rather that representational.

A wordy, overly-pontifical written book by two knowledgeable researchers is interesting to read but harder to digest. Those interested in this & related subjects would be better served wtih "Principles of Neural Science", 4th Ed. 2000 by Kandell, Schwartz & Jessell (1,414 pg.).

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I forget (do I?), November 26, 2000

By 

Howard Schneider (Thornhill, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Memory, Amnesia, and the Hippocampal System (Bradford Books) (Paperback)

This reference is readable and suitable for the interested general reader. While an introductory cognitive science or psychology textbook covers a broader range of material, this reference, restricted to limited aspects of memory, has the advantage of giving the reader a better feel for different approaches (cognitive scientific, psychological, neuroanatomical, physiological, and neuropsychological) towards an understanding of brain functions. 'Procedural memory' optimizes various processors throughout the brain for the stimuli they encounter. 'Declarative memory', dependent on the hippocampal system, is a relational representation of learning experiences, is very accessible and can be easily expressed, and binds outputs of the various neocortical processor outputs (eg, high level visual, auditory, limbic, somesthetic, etc) and olfactory outputs converging on the hippocampal system. Olfactory, frontal, parietal and temporal cortical areas send projections to the superficial entorhinal cortex. In turn, from the entorhinal cortex, the perforant pathway projects to the dentate gyrus (where there are association fibers between neurons), which in turn projects mossy fibers to the CA3 hippocampal region (where there are association fibers between neurons), which in turn projects Schaffer collaterals to the CA1 hippocampal region (which also receives a more direct input from the entorhinal cortex) which then projects to the deep entorhinal cortex, which in turn projects back to the source olfactory, frontal, parietal and temporal cortical areas. The hippocampal subiculum also receives projections from both the CA1 region and the entorhinal cortex, and also projects to the deep entorhinal cortex which then in turn projects back to the cortical areas from which the hippocampal system received projections from. The fornix pathway connects the hippocampal system with subcortical structures such as thalamus, hypothalamus and brainstem nuclei. Glutamate NMDA and non-NMDA neurotransmitter receptors on the same dendritic spines of hippocampal neurons provide a conjunction mechanism - the NMDA channel will open if neurotransmitter is received AND there is sufficient membrane depolarization (ie, in response to another input), and will result in long-term potentiation LTP. However, it is noted that in particular, LTP is best induced if there are high frequency bursts of the stimuli, repetition of these bursts at frequencies corresponding to the theta rhythm, and activation of hippocampal neurons at the peak of the dentate theta rhythm. Electrophysiological recordings of rodent CA1 neurons show that hippocampal neurons encode relationships between environmental and internal cues, in particular, being sensitive to specific locations in the environment during spatial explorations. While the hippocampal system binds together outputs of many neocortical (and olfactory and subcortical) processors and thus allows declarative memories to be reconstructed from features in these processors, the hippocampal system is not the permanent storage site of such memories. For example, in cases of hippocampal system damage, remote memories are not strongly affected. It is thus proposed that the hippocampal system allows access to the various processors so that features of declarative memories can somehow be bound together in a more permanent manner.