The Role of Hippocampus in Memory: a Hypothesis

The role of the hippocampus in memory storage in the mammalian brain is examined. The intrinsic anatomical organization of the hippocampus is such that a multidimensional mapping of other brain regions is represented. Emerging knowledge of the cortico-limbic-subcortical anatomy suggests that the hippocampal representations preserve the topological features of the targets and possess reciprocal connectivity. Long-Term Potentiation (LTP) is a prominent physiological characteristic of hippocampal synapses and is a promising candidate mnemonic device. The hypothesis is advanced that the pattern, or index, of specific neocortical (and other) areas activated by an experiential event is represented, or indexed, in the hippocampus by means of LTP. This hypothesis, termed the Memory Indexing Theory, suggests that experiential events are initially stored in an index of neocortical locations maintained in hippocampus. Subsequently, other regions, notably neocortex itself, permanently encode these experiential events and the interrelationships between them.