Hippocampal response to visual objects is related to visual memory functioning

The medial temporal lobe participates not only in episodic memory,but also in visual object processing. Here we asked whether these processes are linked within the human hippocampus.To this end, we recorded field potentials directly from the hippocampus proper during a visual object decision task in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with either normal or below normal visual memory performance. Only in patients with normal visual memory, did the hippocampus proper differentiate reliably between real and nonsense objects, whereas neural responses to both kinds of objects were virtually the same in patients whose visual memory performance was reduced. These findings suggest that neural responses to visual objects within the hippocampus proper are directly linked to visual memory performance.