Biographical
Information
Larry Squire
received his B.A. in psychology from Oberlin College
in 1963 and his Ph.D. in psychology from Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1968. He is currently a Professor
of Psychiatry and Neurosciences at the University of
California, School of Medicine, San Diego. Dr. Squire
is also a Research Career Scientist at the VA Medical
Center in San Diego. Dr. Squire is the author or co-author
of 244 publications.
Abstract
Dr. Squire
has been a leader and pioneer in studying how memory
traces are organized in the mammalian brain. In his
lecture, he summarized studies which point to the existence
of multiple forms of memory. There is an explicit or
declarative memory for facts and events, and a non-declarative
or implicit memory for skills and habits. Part of the
evidence that leads to this distinction is the fact
that declarative memories are specifically affected
in amnesia, whereas non-declarative memories are spared.
Dr. Squire summarized ground-breaking work in this area,
based on human patients with specific and highly localized
lesions within the limbic system of the brain. These
studies have pointed to the hippocampus and related
structures within the limbic system as being critical
for the organization of new memories. Among the important
concepts that have arisen during the course of this
work is the demonstration that declarative memory changes
gradually over a very long period of time, resulting
in long term consolidation and the well-established
phenomenon of retrograde amnesia.
One of the
great strengths of Dr. Squire's approach has been the
parallel use of two experimental systems. On the one
hand he has taken advantage of the existence of populations
of human patients who exhibit amnesia as a result of
trauma or other damage to specific brain regions. In
parallel with this, he has used non-human primates,
whose behavioral repertoire is substantial, but which
one can manipulate experimentally by directed lesions.
Results from each experimental system have suggested
novel experimental approaches in the parallel system;
the result has been a stunning series of studies that
have advanced our knowledge of the organization of memory
in the brain.
