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Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors

Nature volume 396, pages 75–77 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

Animals can find a hidden goal in several ways. They might use a cognitive map that encodes information about the geometric relationship between the goal and two or more landmarks1. Alternatively, they might use a heading vector that specifies the direction and distance of the goal from a single landmark2. Rats with damage to the hippocampus have difficulty in finding a hidden goal3. Here we determine which of the above strategies is affected by such damage. Rats were required to swim in a water maze to a submerged platform, which was always at the same distance and direction from a landmark. The platform and landmark remained in the same place for the four trials of each session, but they were moved to a new position at the start of a session4. Rats with damage to the hippocampus found the platform more efficiently than did normal rats in the first trial of a session but, in contrast to normal rats, their performance did not improve during a session. Our results indicate that hippocampally damaged rats are able to navigate by means of heading vectors but not cognitive maps.

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Figure 1: The eight possible positions that were occupied by the landmark (black circles) and the platform (open circles) for rats trained with the platform due south of the landmark.
Figure 2: The maximum (dotted region) and minimum (black region) extent of the ibotenic acid lesion recreated on horizontal sections taken throughout the dorsoventral extent of the hippocampus.
Figure 3
Figure 4: The paths taken by representative normal (a, c) and hippocampally damaged (b, d) rats in the first trials of session 7 (a, b) and session 8 (c, d).
Figure 5

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Honey, E. S. Redhead and R. G. M. Morris for advice and discussions. This work was supported by a BBSRC studentship, and by a grant from the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.

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  1. School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF1 3YG, UK

    John M. Pearce, Amanda D. L. Roberts & Mark Good

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  1. John M. Pearce
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  2. Amanda D. L. Roberts
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  3. Mark Good
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Correspondence to John M. Pearce.

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Pearce, J., Roberts, A. & Good, M. Hippocampal lesions disrupt navigation based on cognitive maps but not heading vectors. Nature 396, 75–77 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/23941

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