Different spatial memory systems are involved in small- and large-scale environments: evidence from patients with temporal lobe epilepsy

Exp Brain Res. 2010 Oct;206(2):171-7. doi: 10.1007/s00221-010-2234-2. Epub 2010 May 6.

Abstract

Recent reports show that humans and animals do not acquire information about routes and object locations in the same way. In spatial memory, a specific sub-system is hypothesized to be involved in encoding, storing and recalling navigational information, and it is segregated from the sub-system devoted to small-scale environment. We assessed this hypothesis in a sample of patients treated surgically for intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. We found double dissociations between learning and recall of spatial positions in large space versus small space. These results strongly support the hypothesis that two segregate systems process navigational memory for large-scale environments and spatial memory in small-scale environments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / physiopathology*
  • Female
  • Functional Laterality / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Individuality
  • Learning / physiology
  • Locomotion / physiology
  • Male
  • Memory / classification
  • Memory / physiology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neuropsychological Tests
  • Photic Stimulation / methods
  • Space Perception / physiology*
  • Time Factors