LAY ABSTRACT IBN-9802692 Symposium on the role of the Hippocampus in Learning and Memory The objective of the project is to present new research and theoretical perspectives on the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory by a number of prominent American neuroscientists to the international community of behavioral neuroscientists. This special satellite symposium will take place at the 1998 meeting of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society. This unique society is comprised of members from 29 different countries and meets on an annual basis alternating between the USA and other countries. The project will focus on the role of the hippocampus in learning and memory. The speakers will focus on a variety of approaches to this question ranging from an examination of the role in specific forms of learning and memory such as declarative memory, associative learning, and spatial memory to theoretical explanations of the multiple contributions of the hippocampus to learning and memory. The project will not simply involve presentation of data from the laboratories of the speakers, but in addition, will highlight important theoretical contributions from the speakers and allow integration across theoretical approaches to hippocampal function. This mix of data and theory and the integration across laboratories will present the current state of the field to the international community of neuroscientists. The neuroscientists who come to the IBNS meeting are from many disciplines within neuroscience, including psychology, pharmacology, molecular and cell biology, ethology, etc., yet all of them have an interest in behavior. Presenting these theories and findings to the IBNS membership will serve to educate the membership about the most current issues and theories in this field and encourage more research in the area with an interdisciplinary emphasis and collaboration across national boundaries.
