title: Allocentric spatial memory in humans with hippocampal lesions.
abstract: An immersive virtual reality (IVR) system was used to investigate allocentric spatial memory in a patient (PR) who had selective hippocampal damage, and also in patients who had undergone unilateral temporal lobectomies (17 right TL and 19 left TL), their performance compared against normal control groups. A human analogue of the Olton [Olton (1979). Hippocampus, space, and memory. Behavioural Brain Science, 2, 315] spatial maze was developed, consisting of a virtual room, a central virtual circular table and an array of radially arranged up-turned 'shells.' The participant had to search these shells in turn in order to find a blue 'cube' that would then 'move' to another location and so on, until all the shells had been target locations. Within-search errors could be made when the participants returned to a previously visited location during a search, and between-search errors when they revisited previously successful, but now incorrect locations. PR made significantly more between-search errors than his control group, but showed no increase in within-search errors. The right TL group showed a similar pattern of impairment, but the left TL group showed no impairment. This finding implicates the right hippocampal formation in spatial memory functioning in a scenario in which the visual environment was controlled so as to eliminate extraneous visual cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AF London, UK.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Parslow
authors.forename: Robin G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Morris
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fleminger
authors.forename: Qazi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Abrahams
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Recce
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D038481:Anterior Temporal Lobectomy; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D020925:Hypoxia-Ischemia, Brain / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013028:Space Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D014584:User-Computer Interface