The present study investigated the differential involvement of the
right and left hippocampus in various forms of spatial memory: spatial
search, positional memory versus object–location
binding, and coordinate versus categorical processing.
Twenty-five epilepsy patients with selective amygdalohippocampectomy
were examined using a sensitive computer paradigm to measure these
spatial memory aspects. The patients' performance was compared to
a group of thirty healthy controls. The results show that the left
amygdalohippocampectomy group performed poorly on the ability to bind
together object information to coordinate spatial locations. In turn,
the right amygdalohippocampectomy group was impaired in coordinate
positional memory. Both patient groups were unimpaired on the spatial
search task. These findings are discussed focusing on the
“binding device” hypothesis in combination with the
cognitive map theory. (JINS, 2004, 10,
907–912.)