Cited by 2,401Memory and Neural MechanismsSpatial Cognition and NavigationMemory Processes and Influences

The human hippocampus and spatial and episodic memory

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Burgess, Neil, Maguire, Eleanor A, O'Keefe, John·2002·Neuron

Abstract

Finding one's way around an environment and remembering the events that occur within it are crucial cognitive abilities that have been linked to the hippocampus and medial temporal lobes. Our review of neuropsychological, behavioral, and neuroimaging studies of human hippocampal involvement in spatial memory concentrates on three important concepts in this field: spatial frameworks, dimensionality, and orientation and self-motion. We also compare variation in hippocampal structure and function across and within species. We discuss how its spatial role relates to its accepted role in episodic memory. Five related studies use virtual reality to examine these two types of memory in ecologically valid situations. While processing of spatial scenes involves the parahippocampus, the right hippocampus appears particularly involved in memory for locations within an environment, with the left hippocampus more involved in context-dependent episodic or autobiographical memory.

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Crossref · 10.1016/s0896-6273(02)00830-9

Cites

182 of 182 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • Similar brain networks to the classic episodic memory network have been activated in navigation, spatial tasks, episodic future thinking, default mode, and daydreaming, leading to suggestions that the network performs a general function.

    “Intriguingly, similar brain networks to the classic episodic memory network (also replicated in this study with the RM > RO contrast) has also been activated in a variety of other circumstances including navigation (Burgess et al., 2002; Hartley et al., 2003; Spiers and Maguire, 2006), spatial tasks (Maguire et al., 2003; Kumaran and Maguire, 2005), episodic future thinking (Atance and O'Neill, 2”

    From Using Imagination to Understand the Neural Basis of Episodic Memory (2007) · cites this paper as Burgess et al., 2002

  • Tolerance to partial losses of spatial information has been proposed to be a key characteristic of mammalian hippocampus-dependent map-like spatial memory.

    “The tolerance to partial losses of spatial information has been proposed to be a key characteristic of the mammalian hippocampus-dependent map-like spatial memory”

    From Spatial Cognition in Teleost Fish: Strategies and Mechanisms (2021) · cites this paper as [76]

  • The hippocampus of tetrapods is essential in tasks requiring the formation of a memory of the spatial relationships of multiple elements and cues of the environment and those demanding the flexible expression of previously acquired spatial knowledge.

    “The hippocampus of tetrapods seems to be essential in tasks requiring the formation of a memory of the spatial relationships of multiple elements and cues of the environment and those demanding the flexible expression of previously acquired spatial knowledge [72,73,75,76].”

    From Spatial Cognition in Teleost Fish: Strategies and Mechanisms (2021) · cites this paper as [76]

  • In mammals, allocentric navigation involves an extended cortico-hippocampal network that conveys highly processed visual and multisensory information to hippocampal circuits for transformation into 'world-centered' relational spatial representations.

    “In mammals, allocentric navigation is thought to involve the operation of an extended cortico-hippocampal network that conveys highly processed visual and multisensory information to the hippocampal circuits for further processing and transformation into “world-centered” relational spatial representations [74,76,79,188,189,190,191,192].”

    From Spatial Cognition in Teleost Fish: Strategies and Mechanisms (2021) · cites this paper as [76]

  • The hippocampus is crucial to the establishment of episodic memory.

    “Based on studies of patients with injury to the medial temporal lobe, it is well-accepted that the hippocampus is crucial to the establishment of episodic memory (Burgess et al., 2002; Eichenbaum, 2013; Squire and Zola-Morgan, 1991; Tulving and Markowitsch, 1998).”

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Authors
Burgess, N., Maguire, E. A., & O'Keefe, J.
Affiliations
  • University College London (GB)
  • UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology (GB)
Corresponding author
Burgess, Neil
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2002-08
Volume
35
Issue
4
Pages
625-641
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1970006557
Cited by
2,401
References
182
Citations by year
2026: 79 · 2025: 113 · 2024: 134 · 2023: 113 · 2022: 121 · 2021: 141 · 2020: 138 · 2019: 138 · 2018: 152 · 2017: 135 · 2016: 144 · 2015: 113 · 2014: 119 · 2013: 95 · 2012: 81
FWCI
3.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Automotive Engineering › Spatial Cognition and Navigation
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
Keywords
hippocampus, spatial memory, episodic memory, spatial framework, dimensionality, orientation, self-motion, parahippocampal cortex, right hippocampus, left hippocampus, autobiographical memory, virtual reality, medial temporal lobe
MeSH terms
Animals, Hippocampus, Humans, Functional Laterality, Memory, Memory Disorders, Motion Perception, Nerve Net, Orientation, Space Perception, User-Computer Interface, Maze Learning

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