scholarly journals The effects of spatial stability and cue type on spatial learning: Implications for theories of parallel memory systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Cue Competition ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Goal Location ◽  
Parallel Memory ◽  
Orientation Cues ◽  
Boundary Information

Some theories of spatial learning predict that associative rules apply under only limited circumstances. For example, learning based on a boundary has been claimed to be immune to cue competition effects because boundary information is the basis for the formation of a cognitive map, whilst landmark learning does not involve cognitive mapping. This is referred to as the cue type hypothesis. However, it has also been claimed that cue stability is a prerequisite for the formation of a cognitive map, meaning that whichever cue type was perceived as stable would enter a cognitive map and thus be immune to cue competition, while unstable cues will be subject to cue competition, regardless of cue type. In experiments 1 and 2 we manipulated the stability of boundary and landmark cues when learning the location of two hidden goals. One goal location was constant with respect to the boundary, and the other constant with respect to the landmark cues. For both cue types, the presence of distal orientation cues provided directional information. For half the participants the landmark cues were unstable relative to the boundary and orientation cues, whereas for the remainder of the participants the boundary was unstable relative to landmarks and orientation cues. In a second stage of training, all cues remained stable so that both goal locations could be learned with respect to both landmark and boundary information. According to the cue type hypothesis, boundary information should block learning about landmarks regardless of cue stability. According to the cue stability hypothesis, however, landmarks should block learning about the boundary when the landmarks appear stable relative to the boundary. Regardless of cue type or stability the results showed reciprocal blocking, contrary to both formulations of incidental cognitive mapping. Experiment 3 established that the results of Experiments 1 and 2 could not be explained in terms of difficulty in learning certain locations with respect to different cue types. In a final experiment, following training in which both landmarks and boundary cues signalled two goal locations, a new goal location was established with respect to the landmark cues, before testing with the boundary, which had never been used to define the new goal location. The results of this novel test of the interaction between boundary and landmark cues indicated that new learning with respect to the landmark had a profound effect on navigation with respect to the boundary, counter to the predictions of incidental cognitive mapping of boundaries.

scholarly journals Dorsolateral striatal lesions impair navigation based on landmark-goal vectors but facilitate spatial learning based on a “cognitive map”

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-191
Author(s):  
Yutaka Kosaki ◽  
Steven L. Poulter ◽  
Joe M. Austen ◽  
Anthony McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Water Maze ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Spatial Task ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Place Learning ◽  
Multiple Memory Systems ◽  
Fixed Distance ◽  
Cue Availability

In three experiments, the nature of the interaction between multiple memory systems in rats solving a variation of a spatial task in the water maze was investigated. Throughout training rats were able to find a submerged platform at a fixed distance and direction from an intramaze landmark by learning a landmark-goal vector. Extramaze cues were also available for standard place learning, or “cognitive mapping,” but these cues were valid only within each session, as the position of the platform moved around the pool between sessions together with the intramaze landmark. Animals could therefore learn the position of the platform by taking the consistent vector from the landmark across sessions or by rapidly encoding the new platform position on each session with reference to the extramaze cues. Excitotoxic lesions of the dorsolateral striatum impaired vector-based learning but facilitated cognitive map-based rapid place learning when the extramaze cues were relatively poor (Experiment 1) but not when they were more salient (Experiments 2 and 3). The way the lesion effects interacted with cue availability is consistent with the idea that the memory systems involved in the current navigation task are functionally cooperative yet associatively competitive in nature.

scholarly journals Path Integration and Cognitive Mapping Capacities in Down and Williams Syndromes

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathilde Bostelmann ◽  
Paolo Ruggeri ◽  
Antonella Rita Circelli ◽  
Floriana Costanzo ◽  
Deny Menghini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Memory ◽  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Path Integration ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Mental Age ◽  
Starting Point

Williams (WS) and Down (DS) syndromes are neurodevelopmental disorders with distinct genetic origins and different spatial memory profiles. In real-world spatial memory tasks, where spatial information derived from all sensory modalities is available, individuals with DS demonstrate low-resolution spatial learning capacities consistent with their mental age, whereas individuals with WS are severely impaired. However, because WS is associated with severe visuo-constructive processing deficits, it is unclear whether their impairment is due to abnormal visual processing or whether it reflects an inability to build a cognitive map. Here, we tested whether blindfolded individuals with WS or DS, and typically developing (TD) children with similar mental ages, could use path integration to perform an egocentric homing task and return to a starting point. We then evaluated whether they could take shortcuts and navigate along never-traveled trajectories between four objects while blindfolded, thus demonstrating the ability to build a cognitive map. In the homing task, 96% of TD children, 84% of participants with DS and 44% of participants with WS were able to use path integration to return to their starting point consistently. In the cognitive mapping task, 64% of TD children and 74% of participants with DS were able to take shortcuts and use never-traveled trajectories, the hallmark of cognitive mapping ability. In contrast, only one of eighteen participants with WS demonstrated the ability to build a cognitive map. These findings are consistent with the view that hippocampus-dependent spatial learning is severely impacted in WS, whereas it is relatively preserved in DS.

scholarly journals The effects of spatial stability and cue type on spatial learning: Implications for theories of parallel memory systems

Cognition ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 104802
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Buckley ◽  
Joe M. Austen ◽  
Liam A.M. Myles ◽  
Shamus Smith ◽  
Niklas Ihssen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Memory Systems ◽  
Spatial Stability ◽  
Parallel Memory

Are attachment working models represented in three parallel memory systems?

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Sakellaropoulo ◽  
Mark Baldwin ◽  
Norman White
Keyword(s):  
Memory Systems ◽  
Parallel Memory ◽  
Working Models

scholarly journals The Shallow Cognitive Map Hypothesis: A Hippocampal framework for Thought Disorder in Schizophrenia

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayesha Musa ◽  
Safia Khan ◽  
Minahil Mujahid ◽  
Mohamady
Keyword(s):  
Dynamical Systems ◽  
Cognitive Mapping ◽  
Cognitive Maps ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Thought Disorder ◽  
Cellular Mechanisms ◽  
Relational Knowledge ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
Major Chemical ◽  
Systems Framework

Memories are not formed in isolation. They are associated and organized into relational knowledge structures that allow coherent thought. Failure to express such coherent thought is a key hallmark of Schizophrenia. Here we explore the hypothesis that thought disorder arises from disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps. In doing so, we combine insights from two key lines of investigation, one concerning the neural signatures of cognitive mapping, and another that seeks to understand lower-level cellular mechanisms of cognition within a dynamical systems framework. Specifically, we propose that multiple distinct pathological pathways converge on the shallowing of Hippocampal attractors, giving rise to disorganized Hippocampal cognitive maps and driving thought disorder. We discuss the available evidence at the computational, behavioural, network and cellular levels. We also outline testable predictions from this framework including how it could unify major chemical and psychological theories of schizophrenia and how it can provide a rationale for understanding the aetiology and treatment of the disease.

scholarly journals CB1 Activity Drives the Selection of Navigational Strategies: A Behavioral and c-Fos Immunoreactivity Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1072
Author(s):  
Daniela Laricchiuta ◽  
Francesca Balsamo ◽  
Carlo Fabrizio ◽  
Anna Panuccio ◽  
Andrea Termine ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Learning ◽  
Dorsal Striatum ◽  
Endocannabinoid System ◽  
Cognitive Map ◽  
Cb1 Receptors ◽  
Spatial Problem ◽  
System A ◽  
Hole Board ◽  
Selection Of

To promote efficient explorative behaviors, subjects adaptively select spatial navigational strategies based on landmarks or a cognitive map. The hippocampus works alone or in conjunction with the dorsal striatum, both representing the neuronal underpinnings of the navigational strategies organized on the basis of different systems of spatial coordinate integration. The high expression of cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors in structures related to spatial learning—such as the hippocampus, dorsal striatum and amygdala—renders the endocannabinoid system a critical target to study the balance between landmark- and cognitive map-based navigational strategies. In the present study, mice treated with the CB1-inverse agonist/antagonist AM251 or vehicle were trained on a Circular Hole Board, a task that could be solved through either navigational strategy. At the end of the behavioral testing, c-Fos immunoreactivity was evaluated in specific nuclei of the hippocampus, dorsal striatum and amygdala. AM251 treatment impaired spatial learning and modified the pattern of the performed navigational strategies as well as the c-Fos immunoreactivity in the hippocampus, dorsal striatum and amygdala. The present findings shed light on the involvement of CB1 receptors as part of the selection system of the navigational strategies implemented to efficiently solve the spatial problem.

scholarly journals The effect of step size on straight-line orientation

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (157) ◽  
pp. 20190181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lana Khaldy ◽  
Orit Peleg ◽  
Claudia Tocco ◽  
L. Mahadevan ◽  
Marcus Byrne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sensory Information ◽  
Dung Beetles ◽  
Line Orientation ◽  
Step Size ◽  
Directional Information ◽  
Straight Path ◽  
Directional Error ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Motor Error ◽  
Orientation Cues

Moving along a straight path is a surprisingly difficult task. This is because, with each ensuing step, noise is generated in the motor and sensory systems, causing the animal to deviate from its intended route. When relying solely on internal sensory information to correct for this noise, the directional error generated with each stride accumulates, ultimately leading to a curved path. In contrast, external compass cues effectively allow the animal to correct for errors in its bearing. Here, we studied straight-line orientation in two different sized dung beetles. This allowed us to characterize and model the size of the directional error generated with each step, in the absence of external visual compass cues ( motor error ) as well as in the presence of these cues ( compass and motor errors ). In addition, we model how dung beetles balance the influence of internal and external orientation cues as they orient along straight paths under the open sky. We conclude that the directional error that unavoidably accumulates as the beetle travels is inversely proportional to the step size of the insect, and that both beetle species weigh the two sources of directional information in a similar fashion.

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