In the article ” Viewpoints: how the hippocampus contributes to memory, navigation and cognition”, John Lisman, György Buzsáki, Howard Eichenbaum, Lynn Nadel, Charan Rangananth & A David Redish discuss the state of the art and the open questions regarding the role of the hippocampus in cognitive processes (Lisman et al., Nature Neuroscience 20: 1434-1447).