THE HIPPOCAMPAL SYSTEM - DISSOCIATING ITS FUNCTIONAL COMPONENTS AND RECOMBINING THEM IN THE SERVICE OF DECLARATIVE MEMORY

Continuing commentary raised several issues concerning our proposal th at the hippocampus, parahippocampal region, and cortical association a reas mediate different aspects of memory function. Recent relevant fin dings strengthen our argument that neocortical areas and the parahippo campal region maintain persistent encodings of specific single items a nd that the hippocampus mediates representations of the relations amon g these items. The reciprocally and closely interconnected structures that compose the hippocampal memory system work interactively to suppo rt flexible memory expression that is relevant to the natural behavior of animals and to conscious recollection in humans.