Memory for visuospatial location following selective hippocampal sclerosis: the use of different coordinate systems.
This study addressed the role of the medial temporal lobe regions and, more specifically, the contribution of the human hippocampus in memory for body-centered (egocentric) and environment-centered (allocentric) spatial location. Twenty-one patients with unilateral atrophy of the hippocampus secondary to long-standing epilepsy (left, n = 7; right, n = 14) and 15 normal control participants underwent 3 tasks measuring recall of egocentric or allocentric spatial location. Patients with left hippocampal sclerosis were consistently impaired in the allocentric conditions of all 3 tasks but not in the egocentric conditions. Patients with right hippocampal sclerosis were impaired to a lesser extent and in only 2 of the 3 tasks. It was concluded that hippocampal structures are crucial for allocentric, but not egocentric, spatial memory.
Incisa della Rocchetta
A
A
Department of Psychology, University College London, London, United Kingdom. a.incisa@ion.ucl.ac.uk
Samson
S
S
Ehrle
N
N
Denos
M
M
Hasboun
D
D
Baulac
M
M
D000328:Adult; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D012598:Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013702:Temporal Lobe