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Journal of Neuroscience, Vol 14, 6687-6694, Copyright © 1994 by Society for Neuroscience

ARTICLE

Sun compass-based spatial learning impaired in homing pigeons with hippocampal lesions

VP Bingman and TJ Jones
Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Ohio 43403- 0228.

The hippocampal formation is known to be critical for spatial cognition, for example, regulating the learning of environmental maps. But how is a spatial map learned, and what is the role of the hippocampal formation in the learning process? The sun compass is perhaps the most ubiquitous, naturally occurring spatial orientation mechanism found in the animal kingdom. The sun compass may also serve as a directional reference that supports spatial learning. We report that homing pigeons with hippocampal lesions were unable to use the sun compass to learn the directional location of food in an outdoor, experimental arena. Homing pigeons with lesions of the caudal neostriatum readily learned the same task, and showed appropriately shifted directional responses following a clock-shift manipulation demonstrating that they were indeed using the sun compass to learn the task. Finally, both hippocampal and control lesioned birds quickly learned a procedurally similar task where a color cue identified the location of food in the same experimental arena. The results indicate that hippocampal lesions impair sun compass use in the context of learning. As such, the results support the hypothesis that the importance of the hippocampal formation in spatial cognition may be related to its participation in a neural process in which information from a directional reference, in this case the sun compass, is used to learn the directional relationship among stimuli in space.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				V. P. Bingman, A. Gagliardo, G. E. Hough II, P. Ioale, M. C. Kahn, and J. J. Siegel The Avian Hippocampus, Homing in Pigeons and the Memory Representation of Large-Scale Space Integr. Comp. Biol., June 1, 2005; 45(3): 555 - 564. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Budzynski, F. Dyer, and V. Bingman Partial experience with the arc of the sun is sufficient for all-day sun compass orientation in homing pigeons, Columba livia J. Exp. Biol., January 8, 2000; 203(15): 2341 - 2348. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. Gagliardo, P. Ioale, and V. P. Bingman Homing in Pigeons: The Role of the Hippocampal Formation in the Representation of Landmarks Used for Navigation J. Neurosci., January 1, 1999; 19(1): 311 - 315. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. W. Margrie, J. A. P. Rostas, and P. Sah Long-Term Potentiation of Synaptic Transmission in the Avian Hippocampus J. Neurosci., February 15, 1998; 18(4): 1207 - 1216. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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