2007/07/17 by Timothy J. Bussey, T.J. Bussey, Lisa M. Saksida +1 · 4 citations
Neuroscience · #Memory and Neural Mechanisms #Neural dynamics and brain function #Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
paper · doi:10.1002/hipo.20320
openalex publication_date 2007/07/17 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The prevailing paradigm in cognitive neuroscience assumes that the brain can be best understood as consisting of modules specialised for different psychological functions. Within the field of memory, we assume modules for different kinds of memory. The most influential version of this view posits a module called the "medial temporal lobe memory system" which operates in the service of "declarative memory." This system can be contrasted with a separate "perceptual representation system" in the ventral visual stream, which is critical for perceptual learning and memory, an example of nondeclarative function. Here we question this modular memory systems view and suggest that a better way to understand the ventral visual-perirhinal-hippocampal stream is as a hierarchically organised representational continuum. We suggest that in general, rather than trying to map psychological functions onto brain modules, we could benefit by instead attempting to understand the functions of brain regions in terms of the representations they contain, and the computations they perform.