Hippocampal Physiology, Altered leads to Cognitive Function, Decreased

It is a well-accepted assertion that hippocampal synaptic integrity and plasticity are essential for spatial information processing in animals and spatial and episodic memory in humans (Burgess, 2002; Martin et al., 2000; Sweatt, 2016). A large number of studies with a variety of techniques and approaches have linked hippocampal functional deficits to decreased spatial ability, context learning, and fear learning. Study of human disease states and conditions where hippocampal function is impaired (i.e., brain trauma, Alzheimer’s disease, temporal lobe epilepsy, Down’s Syndrome), and imaging studies of hippocampal activation during memory challenge, makes itirrefutable that the hippocampus is essential for specific types of cognition abilities. Decades of animal research has reinforced this assertion.

There are many forms of synaptic plasticity and numerous ways in which physiological function of neural circuits can be assessed. Similarly, there are many forms of learning and memory and multiple tasks and specifics associated with these tasks that vary from laboratory to laboratory. An emerging field of computational cognitive neuroscience lies at the intersection of   computational neuroscience, machine learning and neural network theory. These computational and theoretical frameworks support the participation of the hippocampal synaptic transmission and plasticity in learning and memory in animals and humans (for review see: Ashby and Helie, 2012).

The majority of data in support of this KER is from rodent models. The evolutionary conservation of the role of the hippocampus in spatial cognitive functions suggests, with some uncertainty, that this KER is also applicable to other mammalian species.