CONTEXT, CONDITIONING, AND HIPPOCAMPAL REREPRESENTATION IN ANIMAL LEARNING

The researchers argue that a previous computational account of hippoca mpal region function in associative learning (M. Gluck and C. Myers, 1 993) has emergent implications that accurately describe the role of th e hippocampal region in contextual processing. This article unifies 2 seemingly conflicting views of contextual processing: It accords conte xtual cues no special representational status (e.g., R. Rescorla and A . Wagner, 1972), yet it also allows context to stand in a superordinat e relationship to the cues it contains (e.g., L. Nadel and J. Willner, 1980). As a result, the account correctly expects that context can de velop occasion-setting properties and that context shifts can weaken l earned responses or attenuate latent inhibition. The article also expl ains data suggesting that hippocampal lesions reduce contextual sensit ivity. It may help unify several previous theoretical accounts of the hippocampal region's role in contextual processing.