Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial Memory in Humans

  • Reference work entry
Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology

Synonyms

Spatial memory is often used to describe spatial navigation and encompasses egocentric and allocentric memories

Definition

Spatial memory describes information storage and retrieval required for identification and navigation of proximal or distal space. This is distinct from spatial working memory which refers to active representations stored and manipulated over seconds. Two main frames of reference have been described: egocentric, which is related directly to the observer, and allocentric, which is dependent on the relational position of objects in space. Routes depend more on egocentric frames of reference, whereas maps are more flexible to landmark changes and thus depend more on allocentric frames of reference. Although often discussed separately, an emerging view is that both egocentric and allocentric spatial memories are coded but these may interact and depend on interacting brain regions. Spatial memories can be representations of salient cues for navigation or be...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
EUR 29.95
Price includes VAT (Hong Kong/P.R.China)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
EUR 747.93
Price includes VAT (Hong Kong/P.R.China)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Aguirre GK, D’Esposito M (1997) Environmental knowledge is subserved by separable dorsal/ventral neural areas. J Neurosci 17(7):2512–2518

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Antonova E, Parslow D, Brammer M, Simmons A, Dawson G, Morris R (2009) Scopolamine disrupts hippocampal activity during allocentric spatial memory in humans: an fMRI study using a virtual reality analogue of Morris water maze (submitted)

    Google Scholar 

  • Burgess N (2008) Spatial cognition and the brain. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1124:77–97

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Leonibus E, Oliverio A, Mele A (2005) A study on the role of the dorsal striatum and the nucleus accumbens in allocentric and egocentric spatial memory consolidation. Learn Mem 12(5):491–503

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ekstrom AD, Kahana MJ, Caplan JB, Fields TA, Isham EA, Newman EL, Fried I (2003) Cellular networks underlying human spatial navigation. Nature 425(6954):184–188

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goodale MA, Milner AD (1992) Separate visual pathways for perception and action. Trends Neurosci 15(1):20–25

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gron G, Brandenburg I, Wunderlich AP, Riepe MW (2006) Inhibition of hippocampal function in mild cognitive impairment: targeting the cholinergic hypothesis. Neurobiol Aging 27(1):78–87

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hasselmo ME (2006) The role of acetylcholine in learning and memory. Curr Opin Neurobiol 16(6):710–715

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Maguire EA, Frackowiak RS, Frith CD (1997) Recalling routes around London: activation of the right hippocampus in taxi drivers. J Neurosci 17(18):7103–7110

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • McNamara RK, Skelton RW (1993) The neuropharmacological and neurochemical basis of place learning in the Morris water maze. Brain Res Brain Res Rev 18(1):33–49

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moscovitch M, Rosenbaum RS, Gilboa A, Addis DR, Westmacott R, Grady C, McAndrews MP, Levine B, Black S, Winocur G, Nadel L (2005) Functional neuroanatomy of remote episodic, semantic and spatial memory: a unified account based on multiple trace theory. J Anat 207(1):35–66

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Muir JL, Page KJ, Sirinathsinghji DJ, Robbins TW, Everitt BJ (1993) Excitotoxic lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons: effects on learning, memory and attention. Behav Brain Res 57(2):123–131

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parslow DM, Morris RG, Fleminger S, Rahman Q, Abrahams S, Recce M (2005) Allocentric spatial memory in humans with hippocampal lesions. Acta Psychol (Amst) 118(1–2):123–147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shrager Y, Bayley PJ, Bontempi B, Hopkins RO, Squire LR (2007) Spatial memory and the human hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104(8):2961–2966

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zhao X, Rosenke R, Kronemann D, Brim B, Das SR, Dunah AW, Magnusson KR (2009) The effects of aging on N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor subunits in the synaptic membrane and relationships to long-term spatial memory. Neuroscience 162(4):933–945

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences, Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London, Box PO89, De Crespigny Park, SE5 8AF, London, UK

    Mitul A. Mehta

Authors
  1. Mitul A. Mehta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mitul A. Mehta .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Section Behavioural Pharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, London, UK

    Ian P. Stolerman

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Mehta, M.A. (2010). Spatial Memory in Humans. In: Stolerman, I.P. (eds) Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68706-1_355

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation