Final answer:
The hippocampus is essential for the encoding of explicit memories by being involved in memory tasks, projecting information to cortical regions, and playing a major role in memory consolidation, transforming short-term memories into long-term memory storage.
Step-by-step explanation:
The hippocampus plays a crucial role in the encoding of explicit memories, which are memories that we consciously attempt to remember and can verbally express. This includes both semantic and episodic memories. Research with rats has shown that lesions in the hippocampus result in difficulties with tasks that rely on memory, such as object recognition and maze running, indicating the hippocampus's involvement in memory formation and retrieving.
The hippocampus also aids in memory consolidation by transferring new information into long-term memory. It sends projections to cortical regions, which give memories their meaning and connect them with other memories. For explicit memories, which are a part of long-term memory, the hippocampus is essential for converting short-term memories into a more permanent form within the brain's temporal lobes.
Damage to the hippocampus impairs the ability to process new declarative memories, highlighting its significance in memory storage and retrieval. A case study of patient HM further illustrates this, where after hippocampal damage, HM could not form new long-term explicit memories, although his short-term memory was intact.