Donaldson T N, Jennings K T, Cherep L A, Blankenship P A, Blackwell A A, Yoder R M, Wallace D G
Northern Illinois University, Department of Psychology, DeKalb, IL, 60115, United States.
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, Department of Psychology, Fort Wayne, IN, 46805, United States.
Behav Processes. 2019 May;162:29-38. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2019.01.003. Epub 2019 Jan 23.
Spatial orientation is a ubiquitous feature of animal behavior. Environmental and self-movement cues are sources of information used to maintain spatial orientation. The literature has typically focused on differences between mice and rats using environmental cues to guide movement. The current study uses the organization of exploratory behavior under dark conditions to investigate species differences in self-movement cue processing. Mouse and rat exploratory behavior was recorded under dark conditions on a circular table without walls. The resulting movements were segmented in progressions (movement ≥ 3 cm/s) and stops (movement < 3 cm/s). Mice exhibited longer travel distances, faster progression peak speeds, and weaker tendency to scale progression peak speeds to Euclidean distances relative to rats. In contrast, similar levels of performance were observed on measures (progression path circuity, change in heading, stability of stopping behavior) sensitive to vestibular pathology. These results are consistent with species differences in a variety of performance variables; however, self-movement cue based spatial orientation did not differentiate between mice and rats. This work establishes a translational foundation for future work investigating the neurobiology of self-movement cue processing using species-unique neuroscience techniques.
空间定向是动物行为中普遍存在的特征。环境和自身运动线索是用于维持空间定向的信息来源。文献通常关注小鼠和大鼠在利用环境线索引导运动方面的差异。当前的研究利用黑暗条件下探索行为的组织来研究自身运动线索处理中的物种差异。在没有墙壁的圆形桌子上，在黑暗条件下记录小鼠和大鼠的探索行为。将产生的运动分为行进（运动速度≥3厘米/秒）和停止（运动速度<3厘米/秒）。相对于大鼠，小鼠表现出更长的行进距离、更快的行进峰值速度，以及将行进峰值速度与欧几里得距离相匹配的趋势更弱。相比之下，在前庭病理学敏感的指标（行进路径迂回度、航向变化、停止行为稳定性）上观察到了相似的表现水平。这些结果与多种表现变量中的物种差异一致；然而，基于自身运动线索的空间定向在小鼠和大鼠之间并未表现出差异。这项工作为未来利用物种独特的神经科学技术研究自身运动线索处理的神经生物学奠定了转化基础。
