Context, conditioning, and hippocampal rerepresentation in animal learning.

The researchers argue that a previous computational account of hippocampal region function in associative learning (M. Gluck & C. Myers, 1993) has emergent implications that accurately describe the role of the hippocampal region in contextual processing. This article unifies 2 seemingly conflicting views of contextual processing: It accords contextual cues no special representational status (e.g., R. Rescorla & A. Wagner, 1972), yet it also allows context to stand in a superordinate relationship to the cues it contains (e.g., L. Nadel & J. Willner, 1980). As a result, the account correctly expects that context can develop occasion-setting properties and that context shifts can weaken learned responses or attenuate latent inhibition. The article also explains data suggesting that hippocampal lesions reduce contextual sensitivity. It may help unify several previous theoretical accounts of the hippocampal region's role in contextual processing.