The hippocampus, or hippocampal formation, is a region of the mammalian forebrain involved with memory and learning. For Shors and Gould, it was a logical next step to ask whether this new cell growth in the hippocampus was connected with hippocampus-dependent learning. What they discovered was both expected and surprising: Since the hippocampus is the neurological seat of learning, it made sense that the new cell growth was affected, but researchers didn't expect the evidence to be so strong.
But there is also a hippocampal-independent way to train animals: learning how to find the platform when it's above the surface is simpler and doesn't require the hippocampus. Shors and her collaborators compared the results of the two different types of training to see how they affected neurogenesis.
In a second test, the researchers used what's known as classical eyeblink conditioning to elicit a basic Pavlovian response: the animals hear a ...
