Nature Neuroscience
2, 844 - 847 (1999)
doi:10.1038/12222
Memory deficits for implicit contextual information in amnesic subjects
with hippocampal damageMarvin M. Chun1, 2
& Elizabeth A. Phelps1, 31
Department of Psychology, Yale University, PO Box 208205, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8205, USA
2
Present address: Department of Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 531 Wilson Hall, Nashville, Tennessee 37240, USA
3
Present address: Department of Psychology, New York University, 6 Washington Place, New York, New York, 10003, USA
Correspondence should be addressed to Marvin M. Chun marvin.chun@vanderbilt.eduThe role of the hippocampus and adjacent medial temporal lobe structures
in memory systems has long been debated. Here we show in humans that these
neural structures are important for encoding implicit contextual information
from the environment. We used a contextual cuing task in which repeated visual
context facilitates visual search for embedded target objects. An important
feature of our task is that memory traces for contextual information were
not accessible to conscious awareness, and hence could be classified as implicit.
Amnesic patients with medial temporal system damage showed normal implicit
perceptual/skill learning but were impaired on implicit contextual learning.
Our results demonstrate that the human medial temporal memory system is important
for learning contextual information, which requires the binding of multiple
cues.
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