One Man's Continuing Contribution to the Science of Memory

Comments

Motor Memory
JJ

12/9/2010 10:04:30 AM

 Dear, The reference to the striatum as the only locus of motor memory ("His ability to learn new motor skills remained, however, because motor learning is dependent on a structure called the striatum, which was left intact.") appears to be inaccurate the motor cortex and the cerebellum are two very important brain areas for motor learning and the retention thereof. In addition, the word "motor learning" is very vague as it is associated with many different paradigms (repetition of thumb movements, serial reaction time task, force-field learning, visuomotor rotation learning, etc.). In other words, I would say that the fact that HM motor learning skills were preserved suggests that motor memories do not rely on the hippocampus.