Goodrich-Hunsaker Naomi J, Hopkins Ramona O
Department of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University, USA.
Behav Neurosci. 2010 Jun;124(3):405-13. doi: 10.1037/a0019193.
Extensive research with laboratory animals indicates that the hippocampus is crucial for the formation and use of spatial memory. Hippocampal lesions in rodents impair spatial memory on radial arm maze tasks. It is unknown whether amnesic patients with hippocampal damage would exhibit similar impairments on a virtual version of a radial arm maze. To evaluate the importance of the hippocampus in spatial learning and memory, we tested amnesic participants with hippocampal damage in a virtual radial arm maze environment. The virtual radial arm maze required participants to learn and remember 4 rewarded arms of 8 total arms. Spatial learning and memory were assessed using the participants' ability to use salient distal cues in the virtual room to remember the 4 rewarded arms. Amnesic participants' latencies were longer and distance traveled was greater to the rewarded arms compared with nonamnesic participants. Amnesic participants made more errors than nonamnesic participants by either entering nonrewarded arms or by revisiting previously entered arms. These data are analogous to previous animal research. Overall, the human hippocampus is necessary for spatial memory and navigation in a virtual radial arm maze task.
对实验动物的大量研究表明,海马体对于空间记忆的形成和运用至关重要。啮齿动物的海马体损伤会损害其在放射状臂迷宫任务中的空间记忆。目前尚不清楚患有海马体损伤的失忆症患者在虚拟放射状臂迷宫中是否会表现出类似的损伤。为了评估海马体在空间学习和记忆中的重要性,我们在虚拟放射状臂迷宫环境中测试了患有海马体损伤的失忆症参与者。虚拟放射状臂迷宫要求参与者学习并记住总共8个臂中的4个奖励臂。通过参与者利用虚拟房间中显著的远端线索来记住4个奖励臂的能力来评估空间学习和记忆。与非失忆症参与者相比,失忆症参与者到达奖励臂的潜伏期更长,行进距离更远。失忆症参与者比非失忆症参与者犯的错误更多,要么进入了无奖励的臂,要么重新进入了之前进入过的臂。这些数据与之前的动物研究相似。总体而言,在虚拟放射状臂迷宫任务中,人类的海马体对于空间记忆和导航是必要的。