The effects of hippocampal and area parahippocampalis lesions on the processing and retention of serial‐order behavior, autoshaping, and spatial behavior in pigeons

Abstract

We examined the role of the avian hippocampus and area parahippocampalis in serial‐order behavior and a variety of other tasks known to be sensitive to hippocampal damage in mammals. Damage to the hippocampus and area parahippocampalis caused impairments in autoshaping and performance on an analogue of a radial‐arm maze task, but had no effect on acquisition of 2‐item, 3‐item, and 4‐item serial‐order lists. Additionally, the lesions had no effect on the retention of 3‐items lists, or on the ability to perform novel derived lists composed of elements from lists they had previously learned. The impairments in autoshaping and spatial behavior are consistent with the findings in mammals. The absence of impairments on the serial‐order task may also be consistent once one considers that damage to the hippocampus in mammals seems to affect more internally‐organized rather than externally‐organized serial‐order tasks. Together, the findings support the view that the avian hippocampal complex serves a function very similar to the mammalian hippocampus, a finding that is interesting given that the architecture of the avian hippocampus differs dramatically from that of the mammalian hippocampus.

Seeing the Forest for the Trees, and the Ground Below My Beak: Global and Local Processing in the Pigeon’s Visual System

“…Layer hyperstriatum dorsale of Wulst forms a major reciprocal connection with the dorsolateral subdivision of the hippocampal formation ( Atoji et al, 2018 ; see Figure 1C ). Like the mammalian hippocampus, the avian hippocampus is primarily involved in the integration of sensory features into a spatial representation of the environment ( Colombo and Broadbent, 2000 ; Mouritsen et al, 2016 ; Johnston et al, 2020 ; Ben-Yisahay et al, 2021 ; Payne et al, 2021 ). The global processing of spatial landmarks based on yellow field information from the thalamofugal pathway is mainly dependent on the hippocampus.…”

“…The global processing of spatial landmarks based on yellow field information from the thalamofugal pathway is mainly dependent on the hippocampus. Interestingly, the effects hippocampal lesions have on position discrimination ( Broadbent and Colombo, 2000 ) and radial arm maze analogue tasks ( Colombo et al, 1997 ) are generally greater when pigeons perform these tasks in large-scale environments compared to small-scale environments such as inside an operant chamber, a condition referred to as the Big-Box-Little-Box effect ( Colombo and Broadbent, 2000 ; Johnston et al, 2020 ).…”

Dissociation of spatial and object memory in the hippocampal formation of Japanese quail

“…Although the inclusion of more subdivisions is more accurate, here we opt for consistency with the previous lesion studies that inform this research and refer to these areas as simply the Hp and APH. These previous studies have often ignored the boundaries between these two regions and have destroyed both Hp and APH (e.g., Good, 1987;Colombo et al, 2001;Kahn and Bingman, 2004;Broadbent and Colombo, 2000;Johnston et al, 2021). This is in part because multiple methods of dividing the avian Hp exist, and in part because of early data demonstrating that damage to either Hp or APH result in comparable spatial memory impairments (e.g., Bingman et al, 1988;Bingman and Mench, 1990).…”

Space, feature, and risk sensitivity in homing pigeons (Columba livia): Broadening the conversation on the role of the avian hippocampus in memory

“…In homing pigeons, HF research has principally focused on the relationship between the HF and navigation (see Herold et al, 2015, for a review), but there is a substantial body of literature examining the relationship between HF and spatial memory for food locations (Bingman et al, 2006;Bingman & Jones, 1994;Colombo & Broadbent, 2000;Johnston et al, 2021;Nardi & Bingman, 2007;Strasser & Bingman, 1997, 1999Vargas et al, 2004). Even in a species that does not cache food, what is interesting about the relationship between the homing pigeon HF and spatial memory for food locations is that it implies some modulation of HF-dependent spatial representations by the experience of reward.…”