ABSTRACT
Brain function can be elucidated both by top-down connectionist models, which attempt to account for behavior, and bottom-up models which are constrained by the anatomy and physiology of brain regions. We have previously presented a top-down model of hippocampal-region processing in associative learning which accounts for a range of conditioned behaviors in the intact and hippocampal-lesioned animal. In turn, this top-down model can be instantiated by smaller, bottom-up modules which each represent processing in one specific structure. A bottom-up model has been developed for the parahippocampal region, and suggests the way in which that subregion might contribute to the overall processing of the hippocampal region. The resulting model combines both top-down and bottom-up constraints, addressing both behavioral data and physiological observations.
