Milgram N W, Adams B, Callahan H, Head E, Mackay B, Thirlwell C, Cotman C W
Division of Life Sciences, University of Toronto at Scarborough, Ontario, Canada.
Learn Mem. 1999 Jan-Feb;6(1):54-61.
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.
使用地标辨别任务,对不同年龄和来源的犬类进行了以自我为中心的空间记忆研究。本研究的主要目标是制定一个方案来测试犬类的地标辨别学习能力。我们使用为猴子开发的地标测试的修改版本,成功训练犬类根据视觉地标相对于两个相同辨别物的位置进行空间辨别。然而,随着地标与“辨别物”之间距离的增加,任务表现下降。这些犬类中的一个亚组还接受了基于自我中心空间线索的位置延迟非匹配空间记忆任务(DNMP)测试。这些发现表明,犬类可以习得以自我为中心和以客体为中心的空间任务。这些数据为评估犬类在空间学习中使用以客体为中心线索的能力提供了一个有用的工具。