Hippocampal lesions impair spatial memory performance, but not song - A developmental study of independent memory systems in the zebra finch. Developmental Neurobiology 69

spatial-learning, forms of memory that appear distinct in formal characteristics and fitting the descriptions and criteria of procedural and episodic-like memory func-tion, respectively. As in other vertebrates, the neural pathways underlying these forms of memory may also be dissociable, and include the corresponding song cir-cuit and hippocampus (HP). Whether (or not) these two memory systems interact is unknown. Interestingly, the HP distinguishes itself as a site of immediate early gene expression in response to song and as a site of estrogen synthesis, a steroid involved in song learning. Thus, an interaction between these memory systems and their an-atomical substrates appears reasonable to hypothesize, particularly during development. To test this idea, juve-nile male or female zebra finches received chemica