Hippocampal function in avoidance learning and punishment

Discusses the effects of hippocampal lesions in avoidance and punishment situations. It is proposed that animals with such lesions cannot process information about places and therefore cannot employ place strategies in avoidance learning and punishment situations; they can only employ cue strategies that involve learning to approach or avoid a cue or to perform a response in the presence of a cue. Intact animals, on the other hand, can employ both place and cue strategies. The data are, to a large extent, consistent with this hypothesis. Implications for theories of learning in situations involving aversive reinforcers are discussed. (125 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).