Tierney A J, Baker A, Forward J, Slight C, Yilma H
Neuroscience Program, Department of Psychology, Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 13346, USA.
Learn Behav. 2019 Mar;47(1):80-90. doi: 10.3758/s13420-018-0345-y.
Previous studies have demonstrated that animals use both environmental cues and egocentric information when orienting in mazes or nature. These two strategies have been examined separately in some species, yielding information on the specific properties associated with each. We examined spatial learning in crayfish (Orconectes rusticus) using an apparatus that required animals to orient under four different conditions: using egocentric (response) cues alone, response cues with inconsistent external (place) cues present, place cues with inconsistent response cues present, and place cues with consistent response cues present. Results demonstrated that crayfish could successfully learn a maze task using response cues alone and when external visual and tactile cues provided inconsistent information. Animals were markedly less successful at learning the task using place cues while disregarding inconsistent response information. We also found that more animals learned successfully when response and external cues were presented in a redundant format where both cues indicated the correct turn. Finally, we found that some crayfish were able to learn a single reversal when trained using response information alone and when response and external cues were presented in the redundant format. We consider these results in the light of findings from other species, and ideas on learning strategy properties, ecological relevance of strategies, and the possible role of stress coping style in crayfish learning.
先前的研究表明，动物在迷宫或自然环境中定向时会同时利用环境线索和自我中心信息。在一些物种中，这两种策略已被分别研究，得出了与每种策略相关的具体特性的信息。我们使用一种装置研究了小龙虾（铁锈螯虾）的空间学习，该装置要求动物在四种不同条件下定向：仅使用自我中心（反应）线索、存在不一致外部（位置）线索时的反应线索、存在不一致反应线索时的位置线索以及存在一致反应线索时的位置线索。结果表明，小龙虾仅使用反应线索以及当外部视觉和触觉线索提供不一致信息时，能够成功学会迷宫任务。当忽略不一致的反应信息而使用位置线索学习任务时，动物的成功率明显较低。我们还发现，当反应线索和外部线索以冗余形式呈现，且两种线索都指示正确转弯时，更多动物能够成功学习。最后，我们发现一些小龙虾在仅使用反应信息训练时，以及当反应线索和外部线索以冗余形式呈现时，能够学会单次反转。我们根据其他物种的研究结果，以及关于学习策略特性、策略的生态相关性以及应激应对方式在小龙虾学习中可能作用的观点来考虑这些结果。
