The anterior thalamic nuclei (ATN) are a central node in a complex ‘hippocampal- diencephalic-cingulate’ memory system. The integrity of the anterior thalamic nuclei is linked with severe amnesia in the Korsakoff’s syndrome, localised thalamic infarcts and Alzheimer-type neurodegeneration. Firm conclusions regarding the contribution of individual diencephalic nuclei in clinical case are limited by uncertainty and variability in lesion extent and location. In rats, the ATN has consistently been linked to spatial memory function, but evidence of these nuclei additional contribution only extend to a couple of studies on memory for the temporal sequence of items. This thesis describes a novel non-spatial odour-object paired-associate task adapted from (Kesner, Hunsaker, & Gilbert, 2005). This task was designed to reveal neural activation following recall after acquisition and the influence of ATN lesions on temporal and non-temporal variations of the task. Experiment 1 found activation in the medial prefrontal cortex in intact rats following long-term consolidation of the non-spatial odour-trace-object paired-associate task. Experiment 2, also in intact rats, identified neural activation in the hippocampal CA1 as a critical region for recent recall of an odour-trace-object relative to the odour-object (non-temporal) paired-associate task. It was expected, for Experiment 3, that ATN lesions would produce severe behavioural deficits only in the ‘temporal’ version of odour-trace-object task. However, ATN lesions prevented acquisition of both the temporal and non-temporal non-spatial paired associate tasks. This novel behavioural findings were supported by pronounced downregulation of the immediate early gene Zif268 throughout key regions of the extended memory system. Sham rats trained on the odour-trace-object task in this final study, by showing increased CA1 Zif268 expression, replicated the earlier findings; this independent replication strengthens the association between dorsal CA1 and recall of a temporal non-spatial paired associate task. The ATN influence episodic-like memory beyond ‘space’, and also time. This likely reflects their profound influence on cortical and hippocampal structures within the extended memory system.