Hippocampal formation volume its subregions and its specificcontributions to visuospatial memory tasks

摘要

Visuospatial memory (VSM) is the ability to represent and manipulate visual andspatial information. This cognitive function depends on the functioning of thehippocampal formation (HF), located in the medial portion of the temporalcortex. The present study aimed to investigate whether there is an associationbetween the volume of the HF and performance in VSM tests. High-resolutionstructural images (T1) and neuropsychological tests evaluating VSM wereperformed on 31 healthy individuals. A VSM index was created by grouping 5variables from 5 tasks (4 from the CANTAB battery and 1 from the Rey-OsterriethComplex Figure test). Multiple linear regression models using the volumes of HFsubregions as independent variables and the VSM index as the dependent variablewere conducted to test the hypothesis that memory performance could be predictedby HF volumes. We also conducted analyses to explore the role of covariates thatmay mediate this relationship, specifically age and intelligence quotient (IQ).We found significant associations between the hippocampal subregions of the lefthemisphere and the VSM index (F(7,22)=2.758, P=0.032, =0.298). When IQ was accounted for as a covariate, we also foundsignificant results for the right hemisphere (F(8,21)=2.804, P=0.028, =0.517). We concluded that the bilateral hippocampal formationscontributed to performance on VSM tasks. Also, VSM processing is essential for adiverse set of daily activities and may be influenced by demographic variablesin healthy subjects.