title: Place memory and scene memory: effects of fornix transection in the monkey.
abstract: Five experiments examined the effects of fornix transection upon some spatial and visual learning tasks in monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). For each trial of each task, the monkey was brought to a test tray and allowed to choose between 2 objects on the tray. In different tasks, different cues were provided by the experimenter to guide the monkey's choices. In total 5 different tasks were run (Experiments 1 to 5) and the results showed that the effects of fornix transection varied markedly between tasks: the animals with fornix transection were severely impaired in experiments 1, 3 and 5 but learned normally in experiments 2 and 4. It is concluded that the results cannot be explained by the simple hypothesis of a deficit in place learning, since some forms of place learning are unimpaired by fornix transection. A better general hypothesis is that the memory disrupted by fornix transection is like a snapshot memory, which stores the spatial arrangement of items in a witnessed scene.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, U.K.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gaffan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Harrison
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D008251:Macaca / Q000502:physiology*; D008252:Macaca fascicularis / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000502:physiology*