van der Staay F Josef
Cognitive Neurobiology, Institute for Anatomy II, University of Köln, Joseph Stelzmann Str 9, 50931, Cologne, Germany.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2002 Nov;26(7):753-9. doi: 10.1016/s0149-7634(02)00062-3.
Every living organism is affected by changes as a consequence of aging. Perhaps the most appropriate concept to describe age-related changes is that of 'functional age'. Laboratory rodents are especially suited as models of cognitive aging in humans, because they have a relatively short life-span and because many tests have been developed to investigate their cognitive performance. Examples from studies using the Morris water escape task were chosen to describe and discuss factors which must be considered before drawing conclusions about age-related cognitive deficits. In particular, the roles of rearing and housing conditions, of sensorimotor impairments, and of motivational differences between young and old rats are discussed. Conclusions are drawn about how aging studies should be conceived and performed.
每一个生物都会因衰老而受到变化的影响。或许描述与年龄相关变化的最恰当概念是“功能年龄”。实验用啮齿动物特别适合作为人类认知衰老的模型，因为它们寿命相对较短，而且已经开发出许多测试来研究它们的认知表现。选择使用莫里斯水迷宫逃避任务的研究中的例子，来描述和讨论在得出与年龄相关的认知缺陷结论之前必须考虑的因素。特别讨论了饲养和居住条件、感觉运动障碍以及年轻和老年大鼠之间动机差异的作用。得出了关于应如何构思和进行衰老研究的结论。
