The Institute Colloquium: The hippocampus in space and time
Date
Monday, October 21, 2013 16:30 - 17:30
Speaker
Howard Eichenbaum (Boston University)
Location
Raiffeisen Lecture Hall, Central Building
Series
Colloquium
Tags
Institute Colloquium
Contact
Some view the hippocampus as supporting episodic memory, whereas others believe that the hippocampus supports spatial navigation. How do we reconcile the episodic memory and spatial navigation views of hippocampal function? Here I will discuss evidence that the hippocampus is critical for memory of order of events in unique experiences, even when space is not involved. Furthermore, I will describe recent evidence that hippocampal time cells (as contrasted with place cells) encode specific moments in the course of temporally extended experiences in both spatial and non-spatial memory. These findings support an emerging view that the hippocampus supports episodic memory by creating a scaffolding for the organization of events within their spatial and temporal context.