Tuning out irrelevancy? Comments on Solomon's temporal mapping view of the hippocampus

In his analysis of the present author's series of studies on the role of the hippocampus in spatial information processing (A. H. Black, L. Nadel, and J. O'Keefe; 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979), P. R. Solomon (see record 1980-04864-001) proposed an extension to the cognitive map theory of hippocampal function. He cites evidence drawn mainly from the literature on the classical conditioning of the rabbit's nictitating membrane response, which he claims can not be satisfactorily explained within the framework of the present theory. The present article shows that the deficits following hippocampal lesions can be predicted from understanding the role of place learning in each paradigm and shows that electrophysiological data are open to different interpretation. It is concluded that the data cited by Solomon do not require any modification of the theory. (2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).