Complementary memory systems: competition, cooperation and compensation

Spatial navigation depends on dissociable memory systems that have distinct neural bases and employ different forms of representation. One system gradually acquires reliable sequences of responses to given situations (e.g. repeatedly following a fixed route), and depends on the striatum. The other develops flexible representations permitting novel responses (e.g. finding new shortcuts), and depends on the hippocampus. Voermans and colleagues explore the interaction between these two systems using functional neuroimaging and behavioural measures in a clinical population.