Affiliations: [a] Department of Clinical Neurology, University Hospital of Vienna, Austria | [b] Department of Neurorehabilitation, University Hospital of Vienna, Austria | [c] Institute of Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria | [d] Reed Neurological Research Center, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA
Note: [*] These two authors contributed equally to the paper. Correspondence to: Dr. Gerald Wiest, Department of Neurology University of Vienna Währingergürtel 18-20 1090 Vienna, Austria. Tel.: +431 40400 3110; Fax +431 40400 3141; E-mail: wiesge1@akh-wien.ac.at
Abstract: We determined the effects of hippocampal lesions on idiothetic spatial orientation by exposing 14 patients with unilateral hippocampal atrophy and/or sclerosis (HAS) and 10 normal controls to random rotational displacements (±30∘–180∘) in darkness and examined their ability to rotate themselves back to the initial position. In comparison to controls, the patients responses were distinctly hypometric (p<0.005). Patients with right hippocampal lesions showed a trend towards higher come back errors (p=0.08). Normal controls could maintain their accuracy over five consecutive trials. Patients, beginning with less accuracy, showed significant improvement after each trial (p<0.001). The findings suggest that unilateral HAS impair the immediate recall of idiothetic spatial information, but does not affect long-term spatial learning.
