Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California 92161, USA.
Learn Mem. 2013 Oct 17;20(11):657-63. doi: 10.1101/lm.031633.113.
In four experiments, we explored the capacity for spatial mental imagery in patients with hippocampal lesions, using tasks that minimized the role of learning and memory. On all four tasks, patients with hippocampal lesions performed as well as controls. Nonetheless, in separate tests, the patients were impaired at remembering the materials that had been used to assess mental imagery. The findings suggest that the hippocampus is not needed for constructing many forms of spatial imagery but is needed for the formation of long-term memory. In future studies of the neural organization of spatial mental imagery, it will be important to separate the contribution of spatial processing from the contribution of learning and memory.
在四项实验中，我们使用最小化学习和记忆作用的任务，探索了海马体损伤患者的空间心理意象能力。在所有四项任务中，海马体损伤患者的表现与对照组相当。尽管如此，在单独的测试中，患者在记住用于评估心理意象的材料方面存在障碍。这些发现表明，海马体对于构建许多形式的空间意象不是必需的，但对于长期记忆的形成是必需的。在未来对空间心理意象的神经组织的研究中，将空间处理的贡献与学习和记忆的贡献分开是很重要的。
