Effects of Spatial Learning and Characteristics on Completing Spatial Tasks

Spatial learning and memory have been studied for several decades. Analyses of these processes pose fundamental scientific questions but are also relevant from a biomedical perspective. The cellular, synaptic and molecular mechanisms underlying spatial learning have been intensively investigated, yet the behavioral mechanisms/strategies in a spatial task still pose unanswered questions. Spatial learning relies upon configural information about cues in the environment. However, each of these cues can also independently form part of an elemental association with the specific spatial position, and thus spatial tasks may be solved using elemental (single CS and US association) learning. Here, we first briefly review what we know about configural learning from studies with rodents. Subsequently, we discuss the pros and cons of employing a relatively novel laboratory organism, the zebrafish in such studies, providing some examples of methods with which both elemental and configural learning may be explored with this species. Last, we speculate about future research directions focusing on how zebrafish may advance our knowledge. We argue that zebrafish strikes a reasonable compromise between system complexity and practical simplicity and that adding this species to the studies with laboratory rodents will allow us to gain a better understanding of both the evolution of and the mechanisms underlying spatial learning. We conclude that zebrafish research will enhance the translational relevance of our findings.

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Landmark Discrimination Learning in the Dog

Learning & Memory ◽

10.1101/lm.6.1.54 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 54-61 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Norton W. Milgram ◽

Beth Adams ◽

Heather Callahan ◽

Elizabeth Head ◽

Bill Mackay ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Spatial Memory ◽

Task Performance ◽

Discrimination Learning ◽

Spatial Learning ◽

Discrimination Task ◽

Memory Task ◽

Spatial Cues ◽

Spatial Memory Task ◽

Visual Landmark ◽

Spatial Tasks

Allocentric spatial memory was studied in dogs of varying ages and sources using a landmark discrimination task. The primary goal of this study was to develop a protocol to test landmark discrimination learning in the dog. Using a modified version of a landmark test developed for use in monkeys, we successfully trained dogs to make a spatial discrimination on the basis of the position of a visual landmark relative to two identical discriminanda. Task performance decreased, however, as the distance between the landmark and the “discriminandum” was increased. A subgroup of these dogs was also tested on a delayed nonmatching to position spatial memory task (DNMP), which relies on egocentric spatial cues. These findings suggest that dogs can acquire both allocentric and egocentric spatial tasks. These data provide a useful tool for evaluating the ability of canines to use allocentric cues in spatial learning.

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VTA neurons coordinate with the hippocampal reactivation of spatial experience

eLife ◽

10.7554/elife.05360 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

Cited By ~ 74

Author(s):

Stephen N Gomperts ◽

Fabian Kloosterman ◽

Matthew A Wilson

Keyword(s):

Spatial Memory ◽

Spatial Learning ◽

Crucial Role ◽

Prediction Error ◽

Slow Wave Sleep ◽

Recent Experience ◽

Quiet Wakefulness ◽

Neuronal Ensembles ◽

Reward Prediction ◽

Spatial Tasks

Spatial learning requires the hippocampus, and the replay of spatial sequences during hippocampal sharp wave-ripple (SPW-R) events of quiet wakefulness and sleep is believed to play a crucial role. To test whether the coordination of VTA reward prediction error signals with these replayed spatial sequences could contribute to this process, we recorded from neuronal ensembles of the hippocampus and VTA as rats performed appetitive spatial tasks and subsequently slept. We found that many reward responsive (RR) VTA neurons coordinated with quiet wakefulness-associated hippocampal SPW-R events that replayed recent experience. In contrast, coordination between RR neurons and SPW-R events in subsequent slow wave sleep was diminished. Together, these results indicate distinct contributions of VTA reinforcement activity associated with hippocampal spatial replay to the processing of wake and SWS-associated spatial memory.

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Stereoscopic Views Improve Spatial Presence but not Spatial Learning in VR Games

Presence Teleoperators & Virtual Environments ◽

10.1162/pres_a_00349 ◽

2022 ◽

pp. 1-41

Author(s):

Cigdem Uz-Bilgin ◽

Meredith Thompson ◽

Eric Klopfer

Keyword(s):

Spatial Learning ◽

Spatial Knowledge ◽

Spatial Presence ◽

Large Effect Size ◽

Survey Knowledge ◽

Head Mounted Display ◽

Stereoscopic View ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Spatial Tasks ◽

Game Environment

Abstract A key affordance of virtual reality is the capability of immersive VR to prompt spatial presence resulting from the stereoscopic lenses in the head mounted display (HMD). We investigated the effect of a stereoscopic view of a game, Cellverse, on users' perceived spatial presence, knowledge of cells, and learning in three levels of spatial knowledge: route, landmark, and survey knowledge. Fifty-one participants played the game using the same game controllers but with different views; 28 had a stereoscopic view (HMD), and 23 had a non-stereoscopic view (computer monitor). Participants explored a diseased cell for clues to diagnose the disease type and recommend a therapy. We gathered surveys, drawings, and spatial tasks conducted in the game environment to gauge learning. Participants' spatial knowledge of the cell environment and knowledge of cell concepts improved after gameplay in both conditions. Spatial presence scores in the stereoscopic condition were higher than the non-stereoscopic condition with a large effect size, however there was no significant difference in levels of spatial knowledge between the two groups. Most all drawings showed a change in cell knowledge, yet some participants only changed in spatial knowledge of the cell, and some changed in both cell knowledge and spatial knowledge. Evidence suggests that a stereoscopic view has a significant effect on users' experience of spatial presence, but that increased presence does not directly translate into spatial learning.

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The Overtraining Reversal Effect in Rats: A Function of Task Difficulty

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/14640747208400284 ◽

1972 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 291-298 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Charles L. Richman ◽

Karol Knoblock ◽

Wayne Coussens

Keyword(s):

Spatial Learning ◽

Task Difficulty ◽

Brightness Discrimination ◽

Spatial Task ◽

Learning Problem ◽

Reversal Performance ◽

Reversal Problem ◽

Reversal Effect ◽

Spatial Tasks ◽

Equal Difficulty

Two experiments were conducted with rats. The first study showed that in the T-maze a brightness discrimination learning problem was more difficult than a spatial learning problem, but in a Ross-maze a brightness problem was less difficult than a spatial task. T-maze brightness and Ross-maze spatial tasks were found to be of equal difficulty. In the second experiment rats were trained either on a brightness or spatial discrimination reversal problem in the Ross-maze. It was found that overtraining facilitated reversal performance in the spatial task but not in the brightness problem. The theoretical implications of these results were discussed.

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The 36th Sir Frederick Bartlett Lecture: An associative analysis of spatial learning

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1080/17470210902805589 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 62 (9) ◽

pp. 1665-1684 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

John M. Pearce

Keyword(s):

Associative Learning ◽

Spatial Learning ◽

Neural Mechanisms ◽

Cue Competition ◽

Spatial Tasks ◽

Competition Effects ◽

Global Representation ◽

Associative Analysis

The ability of animals to find important goals in their environment has been said to require a form of learning that is qualitatively different from that normally studied in the conditioning laboratory. Such spatial learning has been said to depend upon the construction of a global representation of the environment, and the acquisition of knowledge about the position of goals with reference to this representation is said to be unaffected by the presence of other cues or landmarks. To evaluate the first of these claims, experiments are described that investigated the extent to which the effects of training in one environment transfer to another. To evaluate the second claim, experiments are described that investigated whether cue competition effects normally found in conditioning studies can be found in spatial tasks. Overall, the results indicate that most of the phenomena of spatial learning can be explained by the principles of associative learning. The implications of the reported results for an understanding of the neural mechanisms of spatial learning are considered.

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On the Robustness of Solution Strategy Classifications

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001/a000012 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 31 (2) ◽

pp. 68-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

María José Contreras ◽

Víctor J. Rubio ◽

Daniel Peña ◽

José Santacreu

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Study Strategies ◽

Solution Strategy ◽

Specific Test ◽

Spatial Tasks ◽

The Stability ◽

Strategy Changes ◽

Over Time

Individual differences in performance when solving spatial tasks can be partly explained by differences in the strategies used. Two main difficulties arise when studying such strategies: the identification of the strategy itself and the stability of the strategy over time. In the present study strategies were separated into three categories: segmented (analytic), holistic-feedback dependent, and holistic-planned, according to the procedure described by Peña, Contreras, Shih, and Santacreu (2008) . A group of individuals were evaluated twice on a 1-year test-retest basis. During the 1-year interval between tests, the participants were not able to prepare for the specific test used in this study or similar ones. It was found that 60% of the individuals kept the same strategy throughout the tests. When strategy changes did occur, they were usually due to a better strategy. These results prove the robustness of using strategy-based procedures for studying individual differences in spatial tasks.

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