Becker J T, Walker J A, Olton D S
Brain Res. 1980 Nov 3;200(2):307-20. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(80)90922-1.
Although many brain areas have been implicated in spatial memory processes, recent investigations have focused on the hippocampal formation. The present experiment was designed to determine the relative importance of the hippocampal system as compared to the amygdala, the caudate nucleus, or the frontal cortex. Groups of rats were trained to perform on an eight-arm radial maze and then given lesions in one of these brain areas. The post-operative performance of rats with lesions in the fimbria-fornix was never significantly greater than that expected by chance. In contrast, the performance of rats with lesions in the amygdala, the caudate nucleus or the sucal frontal cortex was not significantly different from that of controls. The performance of rats with lesions in the medial frontal cortex was substantially impaired relative to that of the controls during the first few post-operative test sessions, but improved so that by the end of testing the rats were performing as well as were controls. The recovery of function by the rats with lesions in the medial frontal cortex was a function of experience testing on the maze and not simply the passage of time following surgery. Thus, only rats with functional hippocampal systems were able to perform the maze task accurately while thos rats with lesions in the hippocampal system were not.
尽管许多脑区都与空间记忆过程有关，但最近的研究集中在海马结构上。本实验旨在确定与杏仁核、尾状核或额叶皮质相比，海马系统的相对重要性。将大鼠分组训练在八臂放射状迷宫中执行任务，然后在这些脑区之一进行损伤。穹窿海马伞损伤的大鼠术后表现从未显著高于随机预期。相比之下，杏仁核、尾状核或额叶皮质损伤的大鼠表现与对照组无显著差异。内侧额叶皮质损伤的大鼠在术后最初几次测试期间的表现相对于对照组有显著受损，但有所改善，以至于到测试结束时，这些大鼠的表现与对照组相当。内侧额叶皮质损伤的大鼠功能恢复是在迷宫上进行经验测试的结果，而不仅仅是手术后时间的推移。因此，只有具有功能性海马系统的大鼠能够准确执行迷宫任务，而海马系统损伤的大鼠则不能。
