The role of rodent hippocampus has been intensively studied in different cognitive tasks. However, its role in discrimination of objects remains controversial due to conflicting findings. We tested whether the number and type of features available for the identification of objects might affect the strategy (hippocampal-independent vs. hippocampal-dependent) that rats adopt to solve object discrimination tasks. We trained rats to discriminate 2D visual objects presented on a computer screen. The objects were defined either by their shape only or by multiple-features (a combination of filling pattern and brightness in addition to the shape). Our data showed that objects displayed as simple geometric shapes are not discriminated by trained rats after their hippocampi had been bilaterally inactivated by the GABAA-agonist muscimol. On the other hand, objects containing a specific combination of non-geometric features in addition to the shape are discriminated even without the hippocampus. Our results suggest that the involvement of the hippocampus in visual object discrimination depends on the abundance of object's features.

Department of Neurophysiology of Memory Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Videnska 1083 142 20 Prague 4 Czech Republic

Department of Neurophysiology of Memory Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Videnska 1083 142 20 Prague 4 Czech Republic; Department of Applied Neurosciences and Brain Imaging National Institute of Mental Health Topolova 748 250 67 Klecany Czech Republic

Department of Neurophysiology of Memory Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Videnska 1083 142 20 Prague 4 Czech Republic; Department of Applied Neurosciences and Brain Imaging National Institute of Mental Health Topolova 748 250 67 Klecany Czech Republic; Department of Zoology Faculty of Natural Science Charles University Prague Vinicna 7 128 00 Prague 2 Czech Republic; Department of Normal Pathological and Clinical Physiology 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Ke Karlovu 6 12000 Prague 2 Czech Republic

Department of Neurophysiology of Memory Institute of Physiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences Videnska 1083 142 20 Prague 4 Czech Republic; Department of Pharmacology Federal University of Parana Av Cel Francisco Heraclito dos Santos 100 81531 980 Curitiba PR Brazil

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